Phase 3 Of The Insight Innovation Competition Is Live!

 

It’s that time again folks; time to launch the 3rd Phase of the Insight Innovation Competition!

Have an idea that helps brands better understand consumers? Want to support the creation of the solutions of the future? This is your chance to make a difference.

The Insight Innovation Competition helps budding entrepreneurs bring disruptive ideas to life, while connecting brands to fresh and untapped sources of competitive advantage through deeper consumer understanding.

The goal of the Insight Innovation Competition is simple: to identify potentially disruptive innovation in technology, methodology, or business process related to the $33B global marketing research and consumer insights industry. We align entrepreneurs with potential clients, funding partners, and resources to accelerate their growth, shorten their path to market, and achieve critical mass in their business.

Our recent establishment of direct access with the European Commission CORDIS Fund ($75B), the U.S. Department of State AMP Project Fund ($1.75B), the Centre for Social Innovation, and many venture capitalists and angel investors help us take this promise to the next level and truly support the growth of our industry.

We’ve lined up an extensive ecosystem of potential foundational clients, strategic investors, and funding partners to further accelerate participating companies. Our network of corporate partners, including Campbell Soup Co, The Coca-Cola Company, Ericsson, ESPN, Lowe’s Home Improvement, Merck Pharmaceuticals, Procter & Gamble, and several other organizations will also be present at the Insight Innovation eXchange to evaluate strategic investment opportunities and potential partners for new projects.

The winner will gain exposure to a broad global audience of potential clients and partners, mentorship from successful senior leaders within the market research space, access to office space in Manhattan provided by the Centre for Social Innovation, public relations and promotion assistance, and the opportunity to engage with GreenBook’s network of funding partners.

For more information on the competition and to learn more about how to submit an idea or vote, visit our newly redesigned and enhanced website (courtesy of eCGlobal!) www.iicompetition.org.

Submissions and voting are now open and will run through May 22, 2013.

HOW IT WORKS

• Innovators submit a great idea that will change the future of marketing research and consumer insights.
• The market research industry votes on the ideas that have merit.
• Five finalists (and possibly a couple of wildcard entrants selected by the judging committee) are selected to pitch their ideas to a panel of judges at the Insight Innovation eXchange North America 2013.
• The winner gets mentoring, fame, and access to possible funding partners.
• The industry benefits from a great new solution that improves how companies understand consumers.

In this third round, we’re giving new innovators the opportunity to submit their concepts for a crowdsourced round of voting. 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. Past winners are Decooda and Zappistore, and I think both will attest to how beneficial to their business participation has been.

RULES FOR SUBMISSIONS

• The company presenting the idea must be in business and the concept must be within the public domain already. You must be able to share your idea publicly. We’re not responsible for IP protection.
• Your company must be majority privately held. Angel seed funding is OK, but if you’ve taken outside investment money and do not have a majority stake left, this isn’t for you.
• Your company can reside anywhere in the world, but it’s your responsibility to ensure that the legal and tax requirements of your home country are met.
• It’s also your responsibility to get to the Insights Innovation Exchange event. A virtual presentation may be allowed under special circumstances, but it is less than ideal.

On June 17, 2013, as part of Insight Innovation eXchange North America 2013, the finalists will present their concepts to a panel of judges comprised of sponsors of the competition in a live event. Each presentation will last 15 minute: 10 minutes to pitch and 5 minutes for Q&A from the judges.

Using a 10-point scale for each category, judges rate each presentation on:

• Originality of concept
• Presentation quality
• Market potential
• Scalability
• Ease of Implementation

 After the presentations are complete, we’ll poll the audience on which pitch was best and factor the vote score into the judge scores.

The panel of judges will be comprised of leaders in technology, innovation, the insight industry, the public sector, and related industries such as Snorri H. Gudmundsson of the European Commission, Jonathan Ewert of TransforMedia, Brian Singh of Zinc Tank, Scott Miller of Vision Critical, and Keiko (Kay) Iwaisako of Macromill.

On June 18, 2013 we’ll reveal the scores. The highest final score wins. The winner will be engaged with our funding and business partners in private discussions and chooses which of the judges they would like to engage with afterwards as a mentor.

WINNER PRIZE

• Exposure to a large international audience of potential prospects, funding partners and investors, including the Accelerating Market-driven Partnerships (AMP) Program, the European Commission CORDIS, and independent venture capitalists and angel investors.
• A “Hot Desk 60”membership for one year at the Centre 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

Good luck to all the participants!