All topics will be judged on a 1-10 score in THREE areas: the level of innovation, value to customer, and feasibility. Expectations and descriptions of those judging criteria are as follows:

How innovative? (weighted 40%)

Lower scoring is next generation, incremental or iteration of existing solutions. Higher scoring is skipping a generation of existing solutions and out of the box new approaches to solving a problem. Applicants must be the inventor or on the inventor’s team. What are life cycle improvements once you develop your innovation and bring it to market, how does it compare to life cycle costs of current solutions or status quo?

How important to society/customer? (weighted 30%)

We are trying to solve big problems, not just make life a tiny bit easier for the customer. By way of analogies, think of the difference between inventing a painkillers vs multi-vitamins. One is addressing a big issue/pain point and the other is just routine maintenance. We are looking for painkiller solutions that provide substantial problem solving, not just a couple of improvements. Is innovator addressing one of the things that keeps customers/society up at night or just a nice-to-have solution? The submission is given higher scores if they are addressing big problems with large beneficiaries or cost and/or time savings in methodology and lower scores for just nice to have solutions.

Feasibility? (weighted 30%)

We want to showcase, promote and reward not just for an innovative solution but also for having at least thought through the technical feasibility of their innovation. Please provide information including test result summaries proving the veracity of the solution. Low scoring is on an innovation that does not appear to have realistic technical success. Higher scoring is for innovations that demonstrate the success of the technological solution (through tests, pilot products, sales, etc.) Similarly, did the applicant provide a reasonable Minimum Viable Product strategy to get it funded and tested (ideally with a potential customer or with a partner). Is it feasible to protect the intellectual property of this innovation or could anybody copy it? Is the price point realistic for market to bear?