SID-W Innovation Competition '19

About:

This year, SID-Washington will showcase the community’s innovations in two different ways.  In addition to Lightning Talks, the 2019 Conference will feature a competition to pitch innovative products and/or services that can provide better access to information, increase engagement, improve decision making or more to Conference attendees, including potential customers, donors, and employees!

The competition will occur over two rounds.  During each one, participating teams will present the financial, environmental and/or social values of their pitch, gaining valuable feedback from and exposure to the sector’s leaders and practitioners.  All finalists’ pitches can be featured on the SID-Washington website, and their products or services will be showcased in the Innovation Gallery at the Conference.

 

Guidelines:

Round 1 Requirements (Application Deadline: Friday, April 26, 2019 at 11:59 PM EST)

Teams must submit the following deliverables to enter the competition:

• Pitch Deck (Max: 15 Slides):

  • Required:

    • Vision, Opportunity and/or Mission

    • Market

    • Solution

    • Key Stakeholders

    • Financial Impact

    • Social Impact

    • Team

  • Optional:

    • Competitive Advantage

    • Go-to-Market Strategy

    • Next Steps

• Pitch Video (Max: 10 Minutes): to present the deck

A panel of judges will select the finalists, who will advance to the Conference Showcase.  All entrants will be notified of the decisions by Thursday, May 9, 2019.

 

Final Round Requirements (Showcase at the Annual Conference on Thursday, May 30, 2019)

The final round will include a day-long Showcase, where finalists will be provided a table in this year’s Innovation Gallery to display their product or service.  In the Gallery, the finalists will pitch or demo their innovations throughout the morning and afternoon sessions.  Each team should be prepared to field questions from Conference attendees and judges.  The winners will be announced at the start of the Conference’s afternoon plenary.

All Conference attendees will have access to the Gallery, which also serves as a valuable networking and business development opportunity for the finalists.  Select finalists may also be asked to participate in a Conference panel on innovation.

 

How to Participate:

Please send your team's presentation and a link to its video (YouTube, Vimeo, or similar platform preferred) to [email protected], no later than Friday, April 26 at 11:59 PM (EST) to be considered. Note that the judges will place a higher emphasis on the presentation, than on the video.

• There is no limit on the number of teams per institutional member (IM) that can submit entries. Note: only the highest ranked team per IM will advance to the Showcase, pending final competition submissions.
• Submissions sent after the deadline of Friday, April 26 at 11:59 PM (EST) will not be considered.
• All team members must be current employees of IMs.