EVENT: The fifth annual Idea to Product® Global Competition at The University of Texas at Austin.
WHEN: Feedback rounds with judge panels will be held Friday, Nov. 2 from 9 a.m.-noon. Challenge (semi-final) rounds will be held on Saturday, Nov. 3 from 9 a.m.-noon, followed by the championship round from 2-5 p.m.
WHERE: The Texas Union on the university campus. The three concurrent feedback rounds Friday and the challenge rounds Saturday morning will be held in adjacent rooms 3.502, 3.208 and 3.304; the championship round Saturday, in 3.502.
BACKGROUND: Student teams from 15 universities and six countries will compete in the Idea to Product® (I2P®) Global Competition for $25,000 in prizes by presenting technology commercialization plans. Among this year’s product plans to be reviewed by expert judges are: a zero-emission car that incorporates mechanical, solar and wind power, and a cancer drug search method using fruit flies. The fly approach would provide an inexpensive and very powerful system for examining potential drugs in a complex biological system. The I2P® Program has served as a stepping stone for innovative entrepreneurship, with research programs and new ventures created by the work of past teams. The Idea to Product® Global Competition is hosted by the Cockrell School of Engineering, the College of Natural Sciences, the Murchison Chair of Free Enterprise, several engineering departments and student organizations. This global competition developed from the I2P® UT Austin local competition, which began in 2001 and occurs each spring on campus. The success of the local and global competitions in Austin has led to six similar competitions elsewhere in the United States, and in Asia, Africa and Europe.
