Innovation
Competition

The 6th Annual Monte Jade Innovation Competition

Are you an entrepreneurial college student or young professional with a great idea to change the world?
Have you designed a new, innovative product as part of a school research, or in your garage?

Established in 2018, Monte Jade Innovation Competition (MJIC) is an annual innovation contest aimed at providing a forum for college students and young professionals to foster their creativity, critical thinking, and entrepreneurship skills. We encourage the participants to turn their bright ideas into prototypes, business plans, or commercial products

The sixth annual MJIC Program (MJIC 2023) invites submission of original, technologically inventive early-stage projects that solve real-world problems. The potential topics are limitless. The final submission could be a new hardware, software, process, design, or methodology, with a full description of how it will address the problem at hand.

Compete to win more than $9,500 in prizes!

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Rules

Eligibility: MJIC 2023 is open to college students and young professionals. Individual or team (up to three members) submissions are accepted.
Each person or team may submit only one application.
Each team may consist of up to three members.
Submission cannot simply be a school project. Parts of the submission may be inspired by a previous academic work, but the creative and innovative aspects of the submission must be entirely new. Any previous academic work used in this submission must be identified in the submission.
Proposal submitted cannot have been previously published or publicly disclosed.
Software, hardware, and prototypes are accepted and encouraged to show creative, innovative, and inventive concepts.
Applicants found to have committed copyright, patent, or intellectual property infringement will be disqualified immediately with no exception. It is the responsibility of the applicant to perform the requisite literature and intellectual property reviews to ensure compliance with copyright, patent, and intellectual property laws. Applicants found to have infringed on the intellectual property rights of a third party will forfeit any prize or award received from the Monte Jade Innovation Competition.

Rules

Competition Phases

Team registration: All teams register for the competition by providing information of each team member and a brief description of the proposed project. Team will receive an email for registration accepted after June 30. 2023.
First round: All competing teams must submit a 5 to 7 minute video presentation of their solution to Google Drive folder provided by Monte Jade. Prototypes are encouraged but not required.
Final round: Finalists will be selected to give a live presentation + Q&A with a panel of judges.

Phases

Key Dates

Registration deadline: July 14
Project submission deadline: September 4
Finalist announcement: September 18
Finalist presentation: October 7 (Location at Atlanta) / Remotely hybrid
Award Ceremony: November 4

The Top prize and the Second place winners will be required to present in the award ceremony during the MJSTASE annual banquet, to be held on November 4 at the Hilton Atlanta Northeast.

Key Dates

Requirement

Submission Requirements

First Round

A digital copy of a recent photo of teammates (passport size: 1.3" width preferred)
A five-minute video presentation that outlines the proposed solution.
A summary document: up to three pages that shall address the following aspects of the project:

- Need statement of problem definition

- Proposed solution and value proposition

- Target customers and market size

Optional: Prototype/demo/physical model/software solution is not required but can be included in the submission to enhance the proposed solution and to help explain how it works.

The MJIC judge committee, comprised of experts in industry and academics, will review the submitted materials and recommend a list of finalists.

Finalist Presentation

The finalists are required to make a 20-minute presentation in front of the MJIC judge committee at the finalist presentation event.
The presentation cannot be simply a verbal version of the material submitted in the preliminary round. The presentation must further elaborate and explain the ideas and solutions, as well as the value and potential impact to the society, as outlined in the judging criteria.

Prizes

Amazon First place: $5,000
Second place: $2,500
Third place: $1,000
Winmate Inspiration Awards
Winmate Impact Awards

The first-place winner will also have the option of filing a provisional patent application for the concept product with no cost. The provisional patent application will be filed by Wang Law Firm with the disclosure material provided by the winner, and the filing fee will be paid by MJSTASE. The provisional patent application is effective only for one year, allowing the winner time to seek additional support and funding if appropriate.

Prizes

Judging Criteria

Creativity (50%)

The idea will be evaluated on how creative and effective the idea addresses the specified topic or problem.

Feasibility (15%)

How the innovation can be implemented with respect to ease of execution, deployment, financial cost, production, etc.

Marketability (15%)

Factors such as economic impact, ease of development and scalability, speed to market, target market and market demand.

Other (20%)

This criterion is used to capture the intangibles of the innovation that include, but not limited to, the following: presentation style/methods and effectiveness, inventor’s expertise, and passion (how driven about the idea, how much study has been undertaken regarding the concept/project), how resourceful the inventor is in preparing prototypes or proof of concept, material impact to the society and environment, relevance to major problems the world faces, etc.

Judging Criteria

Legal Disclaimer

MJSTASE shall not be held responsible for keeping the ideas disclosed in the Monte Jade Innovation Competition confidential. Applicants shall hold MJSTASE free from any damage and liability arising from any material disclosure by the applicants.