An extracurricular undergraduate invention television show and competition at Georgia Tech

Craig R. Forest, Merrick L. Furst, Ray Vito, John LeonardNCIIA 16th Annual Conference

March 22-24, 2012San Francisco, CA

2009 2010 2011 2012

students 200 300 400 500

faculty judges 30 60 80 80

prizes $15,000 $30,000 $30,000 $30,000

In-person audience 300 1000 1200 1200

TV/web audience 0 24,000 50,000 50,000

Demographics

476 students in the competition relative to 13007 undergraduates in spring 2012

ENGR and ARCH students are overrepresented. MGT students are underrepresented.

ENGR = 60% of students, but 74% of competitorsARCH = 3.5% of students, but 7.4% of competitorsMGT = 10% of students, but 1% of competitors

In ENGR: ME, EE/CMPE, and BMED students are overrepresented

ME= 12.4% of students, but 19.7% of competitorsEE/CMPE=9.1% of students, but 13.3% of competitorsBMED=8.2% of students, but 17.5% of competitors

Gender and under-represented minorities

Women are underrepresentedENGR = 32% of students, but 18% of competitors

Minority students are overrepresented Separately, both blacks and Hispanics are overrepresented.

MINORITIES (B,H,I,P) = 13.6% of students, 17.2% of competitors

BLACK = 6.1% of students, but 8.8% of competitorsHISPANIC = 6.1% of students, but 8.5% of competitors

50,000 households in GA watched TV show– More than CNN, Discovery Channel, etc

1,200 people in attendance– 200 K-12 students (80,000 teachers emailed)– Families, faculty, Georgia Tech students– Open to the public

InVenture PrizeSchool

Commercialize

Intent to C

ompete

Registratio

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Prototype Awards

Preliminary

Round

Semifinal R

ound

Final Round

Provisional P

atents

September January March

9 weeks

“How To” Seminars

Coaching Sessions

SCHOOL

How

to

Be creativeThink like an inventorProtect your ideasAssess Risk, Market Size, MarketabilityObtain ResourcesMake a Pitch

3000 ft2 with $500k of free-to-use, cutting edge prototyping equipment

Student owned and operated

Open as much as possible (nearly 24 hrs/day)

A delicate balance of freedom and creativity with safety and responsibility

Highlights: guild system, workshops, fun, live/play/work

a course40 teams50 staff30 industry sponsors/judges16 wks$500 each

Invent something CREATIVITY

Design itANALYTICAL SKILLS

Build it, test it HANDS-ON

Document everything (lab notebooks, reports, presentations

Give to sponsor for use or patent it and start company

Uniqueness

• Creativity• A fail-forward model for innovation

education outside of the curriculum• High profile, emotional, live, on-stage• Focus on innovation, passion, and

business potential• Patent services• Inventor mentorship through The

InVenture Prize school

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LA

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Recognized on air:

Future…

A partners program with industry, investors, faculty, alumni

National TV broadcast

Television Series

National university competition

cforest@gatech.eduinventureprize.gatech.edu

Ray Vito Merrick Furst John Leonard

extra

Other competitions

• University of Wisconsin at Madison, “Innovation Days” – Undergraduate students presenting inventions to a judge panel

for cash prizes. This 15-year-old competition offers cash prizes up to $10,000

• National Inventors Hall of Fame Foundation – Annual Collegiate Inventors Competition sponsored by the Abbot

Fund and the United States Patent and Trademark office. – Open to students and their faculty advisors, has a large cash

prize of $25,000, many university participants • Business plan competitions such as at MIT and

elsewhere – focus on business planning, models for profitability, and

investment as the primary metrics for success. • Dragon’s Den like competitions at UK universities?

•Patrick Whaley

• Senior, Mechanical Engineering and going for MBA 

• Born in Elmira, New York I am an Eagle Scout Went to Duluth High School Captan of the Swim team I was a semipro body builder I worked for Factory Automation Systems as a co-op My father owns PersonalAir, a commuter firm I will own the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 

• Name: Sarah Vaden• Class: Sophomore• Major: Aerospace Engineering• Hometown: Huddleston, Virginia 

• Fun Facts about me:• There are 10 drums in my dorm room currently. • I love boats— my first playpen was on the family pontoon boat. • A warm, sunny day is priceless to me. • I convinced my best friend in second grade that my bike was a spaceship. • I’m hopelessly independent. • I backpacked an inflatable kayak to Venice, Italy. • In high school I was drum line Captain. • My mother is a classically-trained vocalist. • I want to be a researcher.  I want to discover, create, and explore. • I’m a Vegetarian. • I’ve kayaked in six countries. • I write songs on keyboard.

How do you transform a culture?

How do you transform a culture?

I don’t know

How does an individual, company, or campus provide:

resources

structure

incentives

to foster this culture

Claw Hanging Systems, LLCAtlanta, GA 30308

Lessons learned

You have to learn innovation by doing it, failing, and trying again

Provide and/or use the resources, structures, and incentives to innovate

This is a tender plant at Georgia Tech, easily killed. So you must shelter it from inevitable challenges (tradition, etc) and find others who share this passion. Surround yourself with people you want to be like

UG Inventor participation by major

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

fct_division_abbr no yes (all)

ARCH 0.034 0.074 0.035

COC 0.073 0.087 0.073

COS 0.096 0.055 0.095

ENGR 0.597 0.741 0.600

IAC 0.057 0.032 0.057

MGT 0.099 0.010 0.097

PROV 0.043 0.000 0.042

(all) 1.000 1.000 1.000

Engr are 74.1% of inventure contestants but only 60% on campus, arch is 7.4% of conestants, but only 3.5% on campus

Office of the Provost

Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering

George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering

TEDD MUNCHAK CHAIR

OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Georgia Tech Class of 1934

sponsors

Impact

On competitors

On campus

On state?

On nation?

http://inventureprize.gatech.edu/

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