Changing the world and earning $8,000 to do so could be a two-page paper and three-minute presentation away, thanks to the upcoming Bradley Big Idea 2018 Entrepreneurship and Innovation Competition.
This is Bradley’s first year holding the contest, in which students from all departments are invited to participate by pitching ideas throughout three rounds to a panel of judges.
Competition coordinator and Managing Director of the Turner School of Entrepreneurship & Innovation Kenneth Klotz said there are no criteria for a “good” idea.
“We’re looking for any ideas generically, but it could be something in innovation,” Klotz said. “Maybe it’s a new product, could be a service, could be a smartphone app and it might be a solution to a social issue. We are accepting both for profit and non-for-profit ideas.”
Although they are in the business of receiving ideas, Klotz assures that the competition was created with students in mind.
“We’d also been looking for a really great competition that would be open to all students across campus and attractive to [them] regardless of what they’re studying,” Klotz said. “It gives them an opportunity to develop an idea and compete with other students.”
As the new academic director of the Turner School, Bill McDowell is responsible for the launch of the Big Idea competition. He said he saw the impact it had on the community and campus he worked at previously.
The first round of the competition is a screening of each group’s two-page proposal for the top-30 ideas. The second round is the Tradeshow and Elevator pitch in the Peplow Pavillion located in the Hayden-Clark Alumni Center, and the final round includes presenting a business plan to a panel of judges.
“If they make it past the screening round, each team will get a 6-foot table to depict their idea in any fashion they think will best present them to the judges. It could be as simple as poster board. It could be a video, a model, a prototype, a 3-D printed object,” said Klotz. “We hope they get creative and a little bit crazy.”
While all rounds of the competition promote the competitive spirit, Klotz said the second round is overall the most engaging.
“During that trade show where judges and students and community members are milling around and looking at the ideas, one person from each team will go over to the adjacent room, and they’ll give a three-minute pitch,” Klotz said.
Students will win recognition awards after the trade show for special categories and monetary awards after the final presentation. The first prize will receive $8,000 and second and third place will receive $5,000 and $2,000, respectively.
For more information and to sign up to compete, visit the competition website at bradley.edu/bigidea. Deadlines for the pitch are due Feb. 22.
