Announcing The Finalists Of The 5th Wave Of The Insight Innovation Competition!

After several weeks of intense competition with 7 firms competing in the 5th wave of the Insight Innovation Competition, 24,167 views and 3,100 votes the results are in and 6 finalists have decisively risen to the top of the list based on votes by you, the global market research community.

Interestingly, although the number of submission was down from previous waves (an artifact of this judging round happening in Chile, I believe) the numbers of views and votes are up, so these seven fought hard.

Please join me in congratulating all of the competitors and the finalists. Here they are:

 

	IDEA NAME	AUTHOR	VIEWS	VOTES
FINALISTS
1º	eCForce	Adriana Rocha	14503	1656
2º	SocialDecode	Eduardo De Leon	5940	482
3º	Survmetrics, interactive surveys.	Ramon Escobar	2112	471
4º	Rolling Labs	Mike Courtney	846	416
5º	Sustainable Research	Fiona Blades	642	64
6º	Vysical Labs: Immersive Video Games for Product & Retail Testing	Rolfe Swinton	124	11

 

The submissions broke down into a few key categories:

Social, Local & Mobile: 1 submission (eCForce)

Big Data Analytics & Visualization Tools: 2 submissions (SocialDecode & Rolling Labs)

Gamification: 1 submission (Vysical Labs)

Adaptive Surveys & Agile Data Collection: 2 submissions (Survmetrics & Television Surveys)

Other: 1 submission (Sustainable Research)

So a pretty wide swath of “buzz terms” were covered with a great variety of approaches and technologies represented. What is most interesting (to me at least) is how this mirrors broader trends both within and outside of the insights sector: these folks are obviously paying attention to what’s happening and are building businesses that are positioned to tap into those trends.

What happens next:

For the finalists, they are going to present on stage in front of our panel of judges and the audience at IIeX in Santiago, Chile in April. This is a no-lose proposition for them: past participating companies have seen their businesses accelerate due to their involvements in the Insight Innovation Competition, resulting in funding, partnerships, new clients, and global brand exposure. For the single winner they will get:

• Exposure to a large international audience of potential prospects, funding partners and investors, including the Ricoh Innovation Accelerator, Lowe’s Innovation Lab, and independent venture capitalists and angel investors
• A free consultation provided by Gen2 Advisors to help the winner develop a growth and expansion strategy.
• A “Hot Desk 60”membership for one year at the Center for Social Innovation’s newest facility in the iconic Starrett-Lehigh building in Manhattan, which includes 60 hours of coworking space and 3 hours of meeting room access per month
• An invitation to present at the next Insight Innovation eXchange
• An interview to be posted on the GreenBook Blog, viewed by 36,000+ industry professionals per month
• An opportunity to work with successful senior leaders within the market research space

On April 9th one of the above companies will join Decooda, Zappistore, Raw Data, RIWI and SocialGlimpz as winners and can look forward to rapid acceleration of their business.

For the runner-ups (and the finalists who don’t win the next round too), the news is still good. All participating companies will be vetted for inclusion in the Ricoh Innovation Accelerator and Lowe’s Innovation Lab programs. Selected participants will gain guaranteed organic funding through pilot programs with program partner companies, as well as access to acceleration resources for marketing, strategy, finance, and business development.

The next round of the Competition will launch in April aligned with IIeX North America in June.   Stay tuned for more details on that soon.

 

 

Congratulations to everyone who competed and good luck on the next steps for each of you!