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

The Schoofs Prize for Creativity

Your invention can lead to a chance to earn $1,000, $4,000, $7,000 or even $10,000.

Find out how to develop your devices or processes and create a prototype. Learn about intellectual property rights to protect your ideas.

Contest Rules

1. Eligibility

The contest is open to all UW-Madison undergraduates who will be enrolled full-time during the fall semester 2008. Contestants must be present for judging and the awards ceremony to collect their prizes. Students may form teams with full-time undergraduates from any UW-Madison schools and colleges. There is no limit on the number of team members; small interdisciplinary teams are encouraged. Each team member must provide documentation of participation.

Students who have interrupted full-time study with co-op experience during either fall or spring semesters 2008-2009 are eligible, but they must attend the contest judging in February. (Students out on co-op employment in February 2009 must obtain advance permission of the contest administrator if they are unable to leave their jobs to attend the competition.)

2. Qualifying Ideas

Each contestant or team will develop an original idea into a process or object. Teams or individuals may submit more than one entry. Separate documentation must be submitted for each entry. The idea can be a composition-of-matter, device, design, process, etc. — anything that is generally acceptable by the U.S. Patent Office. The entry need not be highly technical. It can be anything unique, including the proverbial “better mousetrap.” Contestants may use any reference materials or consult with any other persons. If the idea was developed or worked on as part of a class, the team or contestant must also enter a prototype in the Tong Prototype Prize competition.

Innovation Day: The competition and judging for both the Schoofs Prize for Creativity and Tong Prototype Prize will be held Thursday and Friday, Feb. 12-13, 2009, on the engineering campus.

3. Requirements

1. Registration: Contestants must register by completing the on-line application form by 4:30 p.m., Friday, October 10, 2008. No late applications will be accepted — no exceptions.

2. Seminars: All single contestants and team members are required to attend the Innovation Day seminars presented during fall semester 2008. These seminars will provide information about creating new entities, protecting ideas through the patent system, and considering a business plan. The schedule will be posted on the competition website, and registered contestants will receive the schedule by e-mail. The seminars will also be available for viewing on videotape. (Students working a co-op term in the fall semester may arrange with the contest administrator to have the seminar videotapes mailed to them.)

3. Turning in Your Project: All final projects are due in 429 Kurt F. Wendt Library, 215 North Randall Avenue, by 4:30 p.m. on Tues., Jan. 20, 2008. Each team or individual contestant must prepare a written disclosure in the following patent-like format (4-5 typewritten pages plus drawings, photos or videotape).

4. Ideas Notebooks: Each participant must keep an "ideas notebook" detailing their involvement in the progress of the invention. This notebook must be bound and prenumbered so that it’s easy to show that pages haven’t been added, subtracted or substituted. Registered contestants may pick up a free Ideas Notebook in 2610 Engineering Hall, or they can purchase the Computation Notebook by National Brand, which is available at The University Book Store.

   The written entries will include the following information:

   • Original ideas notebook(s).

   • Written disclosure of the idea, including the following:

     • Abstract — One paragraph describing the invention.

     • Field of invention — Description of the general field of use of the invention (also give examples of the invention’s application).

     • Background — Describe the state of the art. (Describe what is currently being done and what is not.)

     • Summary/specification of the invention with drawings — Must be easily understood by judges.

     • Claims — A list of novel features that the inventor believes to be original.

     • Marketing information — What is the potential market for your invention? How have you determined that? Why will these people want to buy your product and not something else on the market?

4. Contest Prizes — Schoofs Prize for Creativity:

The Schoofs Prize for Creativity will consist of the following awards, given at the discretion of the judges. All decisions of the judges are final.

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

5. Judging/Presentation

Judging will take place on the engineering campus Feb. 12-13, 2009.

Each contestant or team will display a poster explaining the idea. Prototypes are strongly encouraged but not required, except as noted above. Contestants must also be prepared to give a 10-minute oral presentation to the judges. A timed question and answer session with the judges will follow.

6. Criteria

Decisions of the judges are final.

Judging will be based on the following scale:

40% Originality, novelty, creativity, technical innovation and patentability.
30% Usefulness, value and probability of commercial market success.
10% Completeness, quality and organization of the application materials.
10% Quality of oral presentation and poster display.
10% Quality of written disclosure.

7. Ownership/Disclosure

All owners of the idea must be represented on the team or the entry will be declared ineligible. After entry materials have been submitted, the college reserves the right to publish information about the contestants' work in university publications and to release information to the media. (This will be considered a public disclosure of your idea.)

8. Patenting

If team members have applied for a patent on the invention, this must be disclosed in the entry. A copy of the patent application must be included with the entry.

Contestants may choose to file patent applications on their own or to disclose their inventions to the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (610 Walnut Street, Madison, WI 53726-2336) before or after the competition.

Submission of an entry to the competition is considered a public disclosure of the idea. (In some countries, patent applications must be filed prior to disclosure. In the U.S. inventors generally have one year after disclosure in which to file patent applications.)

The contest administrator cannot provide consulting on patent questions/issues. For information on patents and patenting, consult:

The United States Patent and Trademark Office
http://www.uspto.gov

The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation
http://www.warf.ws/index.jsp

Kurt F. Wendt Library
Nancy Spitzer, patent librarian
313 Kurt F. Wendt Library 215 North Randall Avenue
608/265-9802
spitzer@engr.wisc.edu