Tag: entrepreneurship

Fifth Annual Rekhi Innovation Challenge Underway

The fifth annual Rekhi Innovation Challenge kicked off on November 10th. Three Enterprise teams are competing for funding this year: Blue Marble Security, BoardSport Technologies, and Velovations. The Rekhi Challenge is a crowdfunding competition to help promote and support student innovation and entrepreneurship through Michigan Tech’s crowdfunding site, Superior Ideas. The team that raises the most money will receive a monetary match of up to $5,000. Monetary awards for total number of unique visitors, total number of unique funders, most social media engagement, most creative marketing plan, and the first team to raise $1,000 will also be presented to teams at the conclusion of the competition.

Superior Ideas was established in 2012 to help bring university research and public service projects to life. The site uses crowdfunding to raise money and awareness for university research and public service projects that may not qualify for grant funding. The Rekhi Innovation Challenge was developed in collaboration with the Enterprise Program Office and the Vice President for Research Office with support from Michigan Tech alumnus and longtime donor Kanwal Rekhi. Rekhi, a Silicon Valley-based entrepreneur, earned his master’s degree in electrical engineering from Michigan Tech in 1969.

Enterprise teams that have participated in past challenges include Innovative Global Solutions, Robotics Systems, Supermileage Systems, Aerospace, Blizzard Baja, GEAR and Open Source Hardware. Velovations took first place in the last competition with $2,550 in donations and a match of $2,550 from Rekhi, bringing the grand total to $5,100 in funding for their RENEW-U project. RENEW-U is an ergometer for wheelchair users to exercise upper-extremity muscles in order to improve strength and mobility. Over the last four years, the Rekhi Innovation Challenge has provided over $58,000 in support for 23 different student projects, attracting 267 unique donors.

For this year’s Rekhi Innovation Challenge, Blue Marble Security Enterprise is raising money to reach out to various community members and groups to increase interest in STEM fields among middle and high school students, particularly women. BoardSport Technologies wants to develop a SmartBoard that will track snowboarders via GPS and REECO location to ensure a speedy rescue if caught in an avalanche or lost. Velovations Enterprise is working with a local trails club to design and build a multi-purpose trail groomer with modular parts that can be swapped in the field to accommodate varying conditions.

Blue Marble Security team photo
Blue Marble Security team photo
BoardSport Technologies' SmartBoard
BoardSport Technologies’ SmartBoard
Velovations' Snow Trail Groomer
Velovations’ Snow Trail Groomer

If you’d like to learn more about any of these projects or donate, please visit Superior Ideas. The Rekhi Innovation Challenge will run through March 31, 2018. Help support student innovation and entrepreneurship at Michigan Tech by making a donation today.

Intellectual Property Day October 4, 2016

Attention Enterprise Teams – please see below for details on Intellectual Property Day. The sessions can be very helpful and relevant to your Enterprise projects and activities.

Enterprise students are welcome and encouraged to attend any and all sessions and must sign up for each session individually. For session descriptions and registration info please visit:  http://libguides.lib.mtu.edu/ipday

IPDay_Poster_003

Fall 2016 Rekhi Innovation Challenge now Open

—-Attention Enterprise Innovators!—-

The Vice President for Research Office and Pavlis Honors College are now accepting projects for the Rekhi Innovation Challenge, a crowdfunding competition whose aim is to promote student innovation and entrepreneurship through the use of Superior Ideas. The Challenge is open to Enterprise teams* whose projects include an innovative approach to an important design challenge or market need. Various awards will be given, and the team raising the most money through Superior Ideas will receive a 100% match up to $10,000!

*Note: Industry sponsored projects and Advanced Motorsports (AMS) teams are not eligible to participate. A separate AMS crowdfunding challenge is being planned for Spring 2017.

A kickoff workshop will be held on Thursday September 22 from 2:30-3:30 in the Pavlis Honors College/722 M&M. Interested teams are encouraged to send a representative to this session for Q&A and to review overall expectations of the Rekhi Innovation Challenge.

To participate, please read the following information for teams, advisors, and the application form.

Any questions can be directed to Natasha Chopp at nichopp@mtu.edu.

Rekhi Innovation Challenge Now Open

The Vice President for Research Office and Pavlis Honors College are now accepting projects for the Rekhi Innovation Challenge, a crowdfunding competition whose aim is to promote student innovation and entrepreneurship through the use of Superior Ideas. This year, the Challenge has been opened up to any Enterprise or Senior Design teams whose projects include an innovative approach to an important design challenge or market need.

The competition runs from Nov. 1-Dec. 31 and projects must be submitted by Oct. 21 in order to be considered. To participate, please see the information for teams, advisors, and the application form.

Any questions can be directed to Natasha Chopp at nichopp@mtu.edu.

fall 15 rekhi innovation challenge