At the beginning of the event on Friday afternoon, students self-organize into teams of 4-6 individuals based on similar interests in a need statement. The teams then research the topic, collaborate to design a potential solution to the selected need, and then make a plan to build a simple prototype or model.
Teams continue working all day Saturday to build their prototype, but also begin planning, scripting and developing a 90-second marketing video for their product, as well as 10-minute presentation.
Early on the final day each team films their marketing video and continues to work on their long-form presentation. In the early afternoon of the final day, each team presents its prototype to a panel of judges. Three teams from each local event are selected for first, second and third place prizes.
This year’s prizes are scholarship funds that will be deposited into each of the placing team’s members’ student accounts:
1st Place: $250 each
2nd Place: $150 each
3rd Place: $100 each
But wait – there’s more! Each university's first-place teams will have about a week to perfect their pitch before submitting a new video that will be judged remotely by a separate panel and narrowed down to a final set of teams.
Those teams will be invited to Aix-en-Provence, France, to pitch a more complete idea against each other, in conjunction with a meet-and-greet conference, for a chance to be named the first-place winner overall!
