GIX Innovation Competition
Advancing technology to improve health, wellness, and the environment while competing for over $20,000 USD in cash and prizes!
The Challenge
You’re invited to create an innovative technological or robotic solution that helps address a problem related to health and wellness or the environment. Your solution can leverage a broad range of technologies including the internet of things, intelligent hardware, low-cost sensors, drones, robotics, computer vision and machine learning algorithms, and cloud computing. For example:
- Health and wellness solutions might improve people’s ability to make informed healthcare decisions or quality of life
- Environmental monitoring solutions might provide actionable insight into energy or consumable usage
Judges will select teams to progress to the finals. Each team of finalists will be paired with an academic or industry mentor who will meet weekly with the team to provide feedback and advice in preparation for the final presentation before judges.
Contact us if you have any questions.
Past examples from the MSTI program:
Environmental monitoring: SnapSort (pictured top), an ML-powered camera system, analyzes waste and suggests to the user whether it should be composted, recycled, or put in their home trash.
Health and wellness: Garbo (pictured right), a smart, mobile trashcan, reduces the need for people with limited mobility to physically transport their waste to the street.
Key Dates
Interested in participating in the 2023 Innovation Competition?
Register to attend one of three virtual Webinars on September 13, October 11, or November 15.
Sponsor
The GIX Innovation Competition 2022 is sponsored in part by the Mitsubishi Corporation of the Americas.
2022 Winners
Cody Birkland, Amy Swanson, and Lloyd V. Dees of Team Ultropia were awarded first place in the 2022 GIX Innovation for their work on a low-energy laundry technology. Their prototype uses ultrasonic energy to clean and dry clothing, significantly reducing energy consumption and making washer-dryer technology more broadly accessible.
“This will help us implement change in laundry machine accessibility to the 5 billion people who still wash clothes by hand,” said Amy Swanson.
“I’m very impressed with the quality of the presentations,” said Adam Loving of Pioneer Square Labs. “I love the focus and the arc that they’re following from problem to solution.” Team Ultropia has since gone on to win the WSU Business Plan Competition and MIT Climate & Energy Prize.
Competition Details
Competition Overview
- Final submission deadline is Friday, March 10.
- You may compete in the competition virtually
- Teams may have 2-5 members. To be eligible to compete, participants must 1) be a current undergraduate student or 2) have graduated from an undergraduate degree-granting institution within the last two years.
- Teams will be judged by an international team of experts from academia and industry
- Each team of finalists will be paired with an academic or industry mentor who will meet weekly with the team to provide feedback and advice in preparation for the final presentation before judges
Competition Phases
- Preliminary round: All competing teams must submit a 5-7 minute video presentation of their solution. Prototypes are encouraged but not required. See project submission for additional requirements.
- Final round: Finalists will be selected to give a live virtual presentation + Q&A with judges.
Video Submission Requirements & Evaluation Criteria
- Problem and proposed solution are both clearly defined. Explanation addresses whether the solution is original or is a novel application of an existing product, service, or algorithm.
- Scope of the opportunity is addressed, with a focus on need, affordability of solution, and global impact.
- Solution fits the problem, and the rough cost of the solution fits the impact of the problem, considers user needs and perspectives, and is appropriate/feasible for target users. If applicable, model created is accurate and optimized/computationally efficient.
- Include an estimated timeline for full development or implementation of the solution, and 6-week project plan
- Quality of presentation (simulation, prototype/proof of concept, video).
- All submissions must be in English.
Contact us if you have any questions.
