What participants say …

Hoopla Rack,
third place and $4,000,
2008 Schoofs Prize for Creativity;
third place and $700,
Tong Prototype Prize;
and Younkle Best Presentation Award

“Through the whole process, I actually began to see my design turn into a prototype, and now my prototype might actually become a patented reality. By the end, I was so happy that I had chosen to take a chance on myself and do something that brought my engineering and hooping life together.”

—Danielle McIntosh

Pen Smart,
$1,000 Judges’ Award for Special Merit,
2008 Schoofs Prize for Creativity

“I thought of this product two years ago—I wrote it down and kind of forgot about it for awhile. And I realized that if I didn’t do it, I’d always regret it, so I just decided to pursue it. The competition is a great outlet for anyone interested in innovation and development. The experience gives you the tools to develop the idea and the confidence to continue.”

—Daniel Gartenberg

Innovators in the news …
articles about past competitors

8-MINUTE STREAMING VIDEO. CLICK THE IMAGE TO PLAY. DOWNLOAD AND SAVE Right-click the link (Windows) or click (Macintosh). GET WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER [for Windows] [for Macintosh] CAPTIONED VIDEO (Windows Media Player) HOW TO DISPLAY CAPTIONS TRANSCRIPT For more information, email innovation@engr.wisc.edu.

MISSION: The Schoofs Prize provides a platform whereby undergraduate students are encouraged to explore/conduct self-directed research, outside the classroom environment. Students are encouraged to exploit, on their own and with complete freedom, the array of talent and resources that are so readily available to them. The intent is to awaken students to the potential embedded in their own talent, and thereby encourage creativity and entrepreneurship.

This student invention competition is open to all UW-Madison undergraduate students. Please join us! Find out how to develop your devices or processes and create a prototype. You can also learn about intellectual property rights to protect your ideas.

The INNOVATION DAYS ceremony is free and open to the public.

Schoofs Prize for Creativity

First Prize: $10,000
Second Prize: $7,000
Third Prize: $4,000
Fourth Prize: $1,000

Tong Prototype Prize

First Prize: $2,500
Second Prize: $1,250
Third Prize: $700

Younkle Best Presentation Award: $1,000
Sorenson Design Notebook Award: $1,000

Registration for the 2009 competition is CLOSED.

• Registration for the 2008 competition closed Friday, Oct. 10, 2008.
• Ideafests: September 2008

• REQUIRED SEMINARS Seminar 1: Thursday, Oct. 16, 2008, 5-6 p.m., 1610 Engineering Hall Seminar 2: Thursday, Oct. 30, 2008, 5-6:30 p.m., Sellery Hall Main Lounge Seminar 3: Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2008, 5-6 p.m., 1106 Mechanical Engineering



• Final entry submission deadline: Tuesday, January 20, 2009, 4:30 p.m., M1080 Engineering Centers Building
• Competition: Thursday, Feb. 12, 8 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and Friday , Feb. 13, 2009, 8 a.m. to noon, if an additional day is necessary.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Deadlines, team members, class projects, prototypes, and more.

Contest Rules

Please consult the contest rules for important instructions.

Resources

These reports have been reprinted by permission of the authors for use by competition participants:

• Five Steps for Profiling the Market for Your Invention by Matthew Younkle, Adobe Acrobat PDF
• Analyst Report by irasia.com. Adobe Acrobat PDF
• Powerpoint presentation from Schoofs seminar about patents and intellectual property

RELATED LINKS Tong Prototype Prize Tong Biomedical Engineering Design Awards G. Steven Burrill Technology Business Plan Competition Complete List of 2007 Winners

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CONGRATULATIONS TO THE 2008 PARTICIPANTS

2008 Prize Winners:
Complete list

Entrants

Accessible Incontinence Device, a catheterized system to sense bladder pressure and control urine flow to prevent incontinence (Arin Ellingson, Marty Grasse, Ben Schoepke, Jon Sass and Dave Schurter).
Adaptive Sailing Seat, a boat-mounted seat that enables amputees, paraplegics or quadriplegics to participate in sailing activities (Kyle Satula, Pat Severson, Carl Vogt, Kevin Jimenez and Meg Reinbold).
Bug Whapper, a tractor-towed farming tool that removes beetles from potato plants (James Bridwell, Rebecca Hager, Alan Klein, Mike Kolden and Rachel Spartz).
Hoopla Rack, a system for transporting hula hoops via bicycle (Danielle McIntosh).
Ice Pod, a portable device to measure ice thickness on a body of water so the user can determine safety (Matt Hemke, Dustin Jepperson, Matt Orton, Bala Shanmugham and Alyssa Skulborstad).
Lace Master, a machine that enables an injured or disabled person to tie their shoes tightly with just one hand (Ross Borchardt, Leah Holmes, Jacob Mikulsky, Dave Moseler and Mike Vioski).
Laptop Case-to-Desk, a laptop case that can expand into a sturdy desk up to 46 inches in height (Scott Hollander, Tyler Cramer and Kenny Kearney).
Pen Smart, an ergonomic writing utensil that includes multiple writing tips, such as ball-point and felt-tip (Daniel Gartenberg).
Portable Refrigerated Beverage Dispenser, a lightweight, self-contained unit for transporting, cooling and dispensing a keg (Kyle Hanson).
Runway Rescuer, a device to remove aircraft with flat tires from the runway (Becky Broberg, Zach Courter, Dan Kuehn, Peter Shafe and Rob Wilson).
SafeSled, an inflatable sled for evacuating people with physical disabilities during an aircraft emergency (Matthew Kuhns, Elliot Locke, Firdaus Nandoliya and Mike Wald).
Vertical Dish Rack, a space-saving vertical unit for air-drying and storing dinnerware and flatware (Victor Moy, David Moya and Chor Vang).
Whip-Up Tip-Up, a wind-powered device that prevents an ice-fishing hole from refreezing and alerts anglers when a fish is caught (Max Salick, Ryley Karl, Annie Ruel, Douglas Jensen and Steven Faulkner).
Zipper Lock, a lock that prevents a single-slide zipper from opening for theft determent (Victor Moy, David Moya and Chor Vang).

Past Winners