Twenty-one student teams representing Elon University and five other North Carolina universities will use water bottles to “create as much value as possible” during a week-long competition that kicked off on Wednesday and culminates Nov. 19 with a showcase event inside the Koury Business Center.
Hosted by the Doherty Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership, the challenge is held in coordination with the Stanford Global Innovation Tournament. Teams have until Monday, Nov. 17, at noon to complete the challenge and make a video of three minutes or less to explain the added value.
Value can be measured on any scale – social value, financial value or even humor – and comes from actually implementing ideas and delivering results. Watch a promo for the 2008 competition by following the YouTube link on the right.
Teams can be of any size. Videos will be judge based on their content and creativity, not the video production quality. Participants were unaware of the water bottle challenge until that item was unveiled at the kickoff.
Jane Foreman, a serial intrapreneur, was the featured speaker at the Nov. 12 kickoff event. Foreman has been a key member of the teams of some of the area’s most successful entrepreneurial ventures such as Accipiter, Art.com and Q+E Software. She discussed opportunities for students in entrepreneurial ventures as a member of the team and the applications of creativity.
Awards will be made to registered charities of the top three teams’ choices.
1st Place: $500
2nd Place: $200
3rd Place: $100
Teams representing Elon University, UNC-Chapel Hill, Wake Forest University, UNC-Charlotte, Brevard College and Lenoir-Rhyne University will be concurrently competing in the Stanford Global Innovation Tournament.
The innovation showcase is scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 19, from 4-5:30 p.m. The audience at the showcase will choose “The Audience Favorite” submission, which wins a separate prize to be announced at that time.
For more information and to register for the Elon Innovation Challenge, click on the link to the right of this page.