Two Elon teams reach finals of Stanford competition

Two teams of Elon students have advanced to the final round of Stanford University’s Global Innovation Tournament, a contest where students around the world were challenged to make an impact on a global issue.

One of the world’s most pressing problems is the global recession, which has had a devastating effect on individuals, communities, companies, and entire countries. The teams were challenged to create as much value and have as much impact as possible while making it fun to save money.

Image from the ‘Study Abroad’ entry by Katie Pietrowski and Tory Hill

Approximately 1,000 student teams across the globe worked to address the challenge in eight days and conveyed their results in a short video posted to YouTube. The two Elon video entries stemmed from the Elon Innovation Challenge, hosted locally by the Doherty Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership and the student entrepreneurship club at Elon University, Students Entrepreneurial Enterprise Development (SEED).

The team of Kathryne Burns, Glen Cornell, Lauren Fredrickson, Andrew Garrison, Chris Kanoy and David Wells presented a video of students ‘Cutting Back’ while Katie Pietrowski and Tory Hill submitted a video of ‘Study Abroad’ to advance to the finals.

“Students from some of the leading universities in the world competed in this tournament.” said Gary Palin, executive director of the Doherty Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership. “The talents and creativity displayed by our students competing at this level demonstrates the high quality of their abilities.”

Image from ‘Cutting Back’ by Kathryne Burns, Glen Cornell, Lauren Fredrickson, Andrew Garrison, Chris Kanoy and David Wells

Eight other teams, representing Elon University, East Carolina University and UNC-Greensboro, from the Elon Innovation Challenge reached the semi-final round of the Stanford competition.

Winners of the Global Innovation Tournament will be announced on Dec. 3.