Student Competitions Dominate Spring Calendar

This semester is an especially busy time for student entrepreneurs and inventors. Many of Georgia Tech’s largest competitions take place during spring semester, giving students an opportunity to showcase their ideas and get the funding and resources they need to turn them into a reality.

For those interested in competing or just seeing what ideas Tech students have this semester, mark your calendars for one or more of the following opportunities.

InVenture Prize

Competition Date: March 16, 7:30 p.m.

Started in 2009, the InVenture Prize is now the largest undergraduate invention competition in the U.S. It is held annually on Georgia Tech’s campus and is open to all Georgia Tech students and recent graduates. The competition includes three rounds, and the final round is televised live from the Ferst Center for the Arts by Georgia Public Broadcasting (GPB). The final round includes cash prizes and free U.S. patent filing by Georgia Tech. Last year’s winning team was FlameTech Grill Defender, a multidisciplinary team of business, computer science, and mechanical engineering students who created a device to detect unsafe levels of gas in grills.

Learn about this year’s finalists here.

Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) InVenture Prize

Competition Date: April 5-6

This year is the inaugural ACC InVenture Prize competition. Inspired by and similar to Georgia Tech’s InVenture Prize, the competition will host the final round at Georgia Tech’s Ferst Center for the Arts. Each university in the ACC will host a preliminary competition and send the winner to this ACC final. On the first day, each team will give a quick pitch to a panel of judges. The judges will select the top five teams to continue to the second day of the competition, which will be televised. The prizes include $15,000 for 1st place, $10,000 for 2nd place, and $5,000 for the People’s Choice Award.

Tickets for the final round of the ACC InVenture Prize can be requested here.

Ideas to Serve (I2S)

Competition Date: April 8, 6 p.m.

The Ideas to Serve competition is for Georgia Tech students and recent graduates who are in the early stages of a product or service idea focused on creating a better world. The competition is organized by the Institute for Leadership and Entrepreneurship and gives students with socially minded ideas access to prize money, mentors, and social entrepreneurs. The final event is a poster showcase held at the Scheller College of Business.

Students interested in participating in I2S should fill out the Intent to Compete form by March 4. View a full timeline of I2S events for this semester.

Last year’s winner, Team Smile Bright, had an idea for a toothbrush that was designed to clean effectively without the need for fine motor movements, made to help people with developmental or intellectual disabilities. The team won the 1st Place prize of $5,000.

Convergence Innovation Competition (CIC)

Competition Date: April 12

The CIC is held each fall and spring semester. The competition focuses on mobile app development, but students without developer experience can submit ideas or contribute to non-development aspects of projects, such as design and user experience. During fall semester the categories are campus-focused, while for the spring competition the categories are chosen by industry partners. This spring, the theme is Connected Living, with three categories: Connected Home, Connected Car, and Connected Communities. While there are events associated with CIC throughout the semester, final entries are not due until April 10. All Georgia Tech undergraduate and graduate students are welcome to participate. For more information, visit www.cic.gatech.edu. The competition is sponsored by the Institute for People and Technology and the Georgia Tech Research Network Operations Center.

Capstone Design Expo

Competition Date: April 26, 4:30 p.m.

The semesterly Capstone Design Expo is a judged showcase of senior projects of students across multiple disciplines, including mechanical engineering; biomedical engineering; aerospace engineering; electrical and computer engineering; industrial systems and engineering; materials science and engineering; industrial design; and public policy. Students work with external partner companies and organizations, and the winners get cash prizes. The fall 2015 winning team, Need a Hand, earned $3,000 for its development of 3-D printed prosthetic limbs. The project was done with a charity that supplies prosthetics to amputees who have been maimed during the war in Sudan.

Showcases

Students also show off their ideas each semester with annual and semesterly showcases, demos, and poster sessions. Some of those taking place this spring include:

• Career, Research, Innovation, and Development Conference (March 10): This event features graduate student presentations, as well as workshops for attendees. 
• Graduate Minority Students Symposium (April 8): Minority graduate students in STEM fields showcase their research through poster presentations and workshops.
• Creative Decisions and Design Showcase (April 8): Students enrolled in this ME 2110 course will share machine creations that were made to complete tasks that are important to the Georgia Tech Experience.
• Institute for Information Security and Privacy Demo Day (April 13): Students will present ideas related to cybersecurity, with the potential to win up to $5,000. 
• Institute for People and Technology (IPaT) Industry Innovation Day(April 13): Researchers will showcase their work and interact with industry, government, and nonprofit partners. 
• Undergraduate Research Symposium (April 19): Undergraduate students will present their research through posters and oral presentations. 
• Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC) Startup Showcase (May 12): This is not just students, but inventors and entrepreneurs from around the state who are part of companies within ATDC.