5 Most Common Mistakes Innovators Make When Submitting To Innovation Competitions? S12 Ep29
Summary: Winning innovation competitions or innovation awards can be a major achievement and proof of you and your teams ability to innovate. Which innovation competitions or awards should you submit to? Are there any downsides to submitting and winning a competiton or an award?<br> In this weeks show, we discuss the structures and thinking behind innovation competitions and innovations awards and I share the 5 most common mistakes I've experienced as a judge.<br> Innovation Awards<br> <br> * A special guest, <a href="http://killerinnovations.com/what-are-the-3-things-that-every-organization-should-do-to-be-truly-innovative/" target="_blank">Tom Kuczmarski</a>, shared an update on the <a href="http://www.chicagoinnovationawards.com/" target="_blank">Chicago Innovation Awards</a>.<br> * This award is now in its 15th year.<br> * Of the ~200 awards given in the past, 100% of the companies and organizations are still around.<br> * This year they will give out 10 awards including some new ones such as; <a href="http://killerinnovations.com/be-unreasonable-and-change-the-world-s11-ep19/" target="_blank">Social Innovation</a>, Peoples Choice Awards and Neighborhood Awards.<br> * Criteria they use to select the winner of the Chicago Innovation Award?<br> <br> * What was the customer need the innovation addressed?<br> * What was the impact from the innovation?<br> * Was their a competitive response? (indication of impact since others attempt to copy)<br> * Did the innovation create a new category?<br> <br> <br> <br> Innovation Competitions<br> <br> * What are the different type of innovation competitions?<br> <br> * Solution search like <a href="https://www.ideaconnection.com/" target="_blank">Idea Connection</a><br> * Broad new ideas<br> * Narrow/focused new ideas<br> <br> <br> * Approaches to applying to a competition<br> <br> * Forward approach: Read the competition and solve for the ask proposed in competition material<br> * Backward approach: Take an idea you already have and find a competition where it can be applied<br> <br> <br> <br> 5 Most Common Mistakes<br> <br> * Not doing sufficient research on the space to fully understand the problem/ask beyond what was presented in the competition material.<br> * Not fully reading/understand the ask. Make sure you don't inject assumptions and bias into crafting your solution to a misunderstood ask.<br> * Not following the guidelines on submissions. Understand what/how/format of the submission.<br> * Submitting an weak/shallow submission. Apply some deep thinking (<a href="http://beyondtheobvious.com/" target="_blank">go beyond the obvious</a>) and <a href="http://killerinnovations.com/7-parts-to-an-innovation-pitch-for-your-idea-s11-ep50/" target="_blank">create a killer presentation/pitch</a>. Don't short change it.<br> * Not understanding the IP (intellectual property) rules for the competition.<br> <br> Show Links:<br> <br> * <a href="https://www.ideaconnection.com/" target="_blank">Idea Connection</a><br> * <a href="http://www.chicagoinnovationawards.com/" target="_blank">Chicago Innovation Awards</a><br> * <a href="http://killerinnovations.com/what-are-the-3-things-that-every-organization-should-do-to-be-truly-innovative/" target="_blank">Tom Kuczmarski interview on a previous episode of Killer Innovation</a><br> <br>
