Innovation Challenge

Students ready to make a difference in 2016

There are numerous problems and issues surrounding us today, yet how often do we expect young people to be the ones who present powerful solutions?

We are calling out to high school students within the NC New Schools/Breakthrough Learning network to step up and make a difference.

We are asking for students to unite with their peers and to propose solutions that can change the local community, region, state or the world. Entrepreneurs, teachers and high school students have crafted this challenge with the support from NC State University, College of Design and corporate sponsor Cisco Systems.

2016 Innovation Challenge Sponsor

This year’s proposal themes are:

Sustainability
Information Technology
Health/Wellness

2015 Innovation Challenge Participants and Partners

The best proposals will be presented at the Scaling STEM conference on April 4, 2016. Nine teams will pitch their proposals to a panel of judges from industry. Each team will present for five minutes and have two minutes for questions. Judges will select a winning proposal from each category and each winner will receive $1500. The financial awards are to support the implementation of the proposals.

General information for student teams

Any high school that partners with NC New Schools/Breakthrough Learning or has received STEM recognition by the NC Department of Public Instruction is eligible to participate. A school can submit up to three team presentations.
Teams should consist of two to eight members.
Every team must have a teacher/educator to assist.
Teams are encouraged to have their teacher participate in the kick off webinar. The webinar provides teachers with ideas on design skills and guidelines for the competition.
Teams are encouraged to partner with industry professionals as mentors. Teams can find their own mentor or contact Darrell Kain at dkain@ncnewschools.org for assistance.
Submit an “Initial Application” by clicking this link. Through this link, teams will submit some general information and basic contact information.

Design Thinking Video Series

NC New Schools/Breakthrough Learning, in partnership with Professor Percy Hooper, NC State University College of Design, has created a video series to help teachers and students with design thinking. The videos are designed to help student teams ideate for the 2016 Innovation Challenge yet they can also be used by anyone interested in design thinking.

Video Series
Design Thinking Videos, Discussion and Brainstorming Guide
Instructions for Quick Draw Activity
Instructions for Rooftop Challenge

Proposal information

Proposals must be original ideas generated by the team.
Proposals must be solutions that relate to one of the challenge topics.
Proposals must be ideas that can be implemented with a reasonable amount of resources and not vague, unrealistic ideas.
Proposals will be judged on the following criteria: clear needs analysis, innovative & realistic solution(s), level of positive impact, persuasive presentation, and potential for sustainability. Click here to review the judging rubric.
Industry partners will judge the proposals and nine teams will be invited to pitch at the Scaling STEM Conference in April.

Proposal requirements

In a “Word” document or PDF document of two or three pages:

Describe the problem or issue that is of interest.
Include research that supports that the issue needs addressing.
Clearly explain your innovative approach to address the issue.
State how your solution can be sustained over time and could be used by other communities or schools.
Include a link to a video where you pitch your proposed solution. Videos can be posted on Youtube or Vimeo and should be no longer than 2 minutes.
Include the names of the team members, teacher sponsor, and contact information.
Final Proposals are due February 26, 2016, email to George Ward, at gward@ncnewschools.org.