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

Releasable Wakeboard Binding

Releasable Wakeboard Binding: a wakeboard binding designed to release the boot from the board at a predetermined moment of force. The design lowers the potential for dangerous forces to be transmitted to the user's ankle or knee. This design won 3rd place in the Schoofs Prize for Creativity competition.

"Releasable Wakeboard Binding," a wakeboard binding that could prevent serious fall-related injuries by releasing the boot from the board in multiple positions, was invented by Jason Zuleger. The binding won third place for the Schoofs Prize. (large image)

“The prototyping process taught me that the functionality of my design was very dependent on material selection to lower the friction between sliding parts,” says Jason Zuleger, who designed a releasable wakeboard binding. “I also learned that the slight curvature in the top surface of the wakeboard would have a much larger effect on how the components of my design would mate than I had originally anticipated. The prototype loan was vital to the development of both my design and my prototype. The loan allowed me to procure a wakeboard and conventional bindings to ensure that my binding design would install properly. The loan also allowed me to purchase a polymer that was very easy to machine, which was important because I had very little machining experience when I started.”

— Jason Zuleger