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UH BREAKTHROUGH INNOVATION CHALLENGE

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THE UH BREAKTHROUGH INNOVATION CHALLENGE IS AN ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETITION WHERE PARTICIPANTS PITCH THEIR GAME-CHANGING SOLUTIONS FOR A CHANCE TO WIN BUSINESS MENTORSHIP AND CASH PRIZES.

Congratulations to the winners of the 2022 UH Breakthrough Innovation Challenge! Each contestant walked away with cash prizes from $250 to $2,000.

UH News story

BIC Group 2022
PARTNERS
UH College of Engineering Logo
UH Richardson School of Law Logo

THE UH BREAKTHROUGH INNOVATION CHALLENGE IS AN ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETITION WHERE PARTICIPANTS PITCH THEIR GAME-CHANGING SOLUTIONS FOR A CHANCE TO WIN BUSINESS MENTORSHIP AND CASH PRIZES.

Congratulations to the winners of the 2022 UH Breakthrough Innovation Challenge! Each contestant walked away with cash prizes from $250 to $2,000.

UH News story

BIC Group 2022
PARTNERS
UH College of Engineering Logo
UH Richardson School of Law Logo

TEAMS

2022

Idea Name Contestants
Carbon 0 Kobey Arai, William Liang, Yong-Sung Masuda, Gavin Peng
Changing Japanese Higher Education Yuki Kawahara
COCO Andrea Murillo
Gecko Plastics Diego Chavez
Parqable James MacKenzie
Symptom Files Alyssia Chen, Ethan Chiu
The Anywhere Squeegee Alexander Oshita
Watsumari Noah deMers

COACHES

2022

Name Position Company
Dean Bacalzo Affiliate Faculty Product Design University of Colorado – Boulder
Marko Brickman Retired Owner/CEO Mark’s Athletic Soles Inc.
Darcy Hughes Founder Hughes Pursuits Inc.
Assaf Karmon CEO TurnoverBnB
Dave Kozuki Vice President of Marketing and Sales Innovation MC3 Technologies
Chris Loo Business Development Manager Windfall USA
Rich Matsuura VP of Product Management Dispatch
Savan Patel CEO S&P Holdings Inc.
Eric Tom Former Technology Executive N/A
Breck Yunits Founder Public Domain Publishing Inc.

JUDGES

2022

Zachary Kim
Co-Founder and CTO
Float
Cindy Matsuki
SBIR Manager
Innovate Hawaii
Jill Nakatsu
Director of Academic Affairs
UH College of Engineering
Mark Tawara
Founder
Bright Light Digital
Manageability LLC

ABOUT

The UH Breakthrough Innovation Challenge is an entrepreneurial competition where participants pitch their innovative business idea to a panel of judges, for a chance to win cash prizes. The purpose of this challenge is to expose students and faculty in all disciplines to entrepreneurial thinking and to bring recognition and attention to innovators at the University of Hawai‘i. The Challenge does not require a business plan or complicated financial statements.

The Challenge pairs competitors with business mentors, and teaches students to research market opportunities, seek customer validation, and determine the commercial potential of their idea. Furthermore, students hone their presentation and communication skills. This program serves as a stepping stone for the rigorous UH Venture Competition in the spring semester.

In the qualifying round, participants submit a 2-minute YouTube video describing their innovation and its market opportunity. The video submissions are viewed and ranked by a preliminary round of judges.
The best videos are announced. These finalists are paired with a coach to help prepare them for the live pitch in the final phase. The mentors provide coaching on content and presentation skills.
The finalists present their business idea to a judging panel and live audience. The panel may be comprised of venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, angel investors, and other professionals. The presentations are evaluated and the winners are announced immediately.

CHALLENGE DETAILS

  • Individuals and teams of up to 5 people may enter.
    (Please note that if a team advances to the final round, all team members must be present for the final presentation.)
  • At least one member of the team must be a current classified UH student or faculty. The team may be comprised of non-UH members.
    (Please note that if the team claims a prize, the award can be designated to UH team members only.)
  • Participants may enter as many ideas as they wish. However, only one idea from the same individual / team will be selected to advance to the Finals.
  • Previous Breakthrough Innovation Challenge or UH Business Plan Competition entries are not eligible.
Individuals or team leaders must complete the online registration form and consent to the confidentiality and participation agreements by the registration deadline.

All submissions must be factual, entirely new innovations, and the original work of the entrants.

PRELIMINARY ROUND: VIDEO ENTRY

Produce a 2-minute video describing the innovation and how it may solve a problem in the world. See judging criteria. All qualifying video submissions will be viewed and ranked by a preliminary judging panel.
  • Video must not be longer than 2 minutes. If the video is over 2 minutes, the entry will be automatically disqualified.
  • State name of idea.
  • Do not state team members’ names.
  • Presentation must be done as a verbal explanation. Visual aids are not necessary but may be used to enhance the presentation.
Upload video to YouTube and submit a link to your video using the Video Entry Form. Videos must be smaller than 20GB in size and in a supported YouTube file format.
  1. Click the ‘Upload’ link at the top of any YouTube page.
  2. Click the ‘Browse’ button to browse for the video file you’d like to upload.
  3. Select the file you want to upload.
  4. Click the ‘Upload Video’ button to start the uploading process.
  5. Change your privacy settings to “Unlisted” (anyone with the link can view).
  6. Click the ‘Save changes’ button to save the updates you’ve made to the video file.
  7. Submit your entry by completing this online form.
The best video entries will be announced online. Finalists will be paired with a business mentor to help prepare for the live pitch. Finalists who present at the final event will have the chance to receive a cash award.

FINAL ROUND: LIVE PITCH

Finalists will give a pitch of their business idea to a judging panel and live audience. PACE strongly encourages participants to align their presentation to the Judging Criteria. All members of a team must be present for the final presentation. The presentation will be followed by a Q&A session with the judges. The judging panel may be comprised of venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, angel investors, and other professionals. The judges will score each presentation, following Q&A.

Video Entry Judging Criteria:

The UH Breakthrough Innovation Challenge aims to recognize new business ideas.
Your video should:
  1. Describe the innovation.
  2. Address the problem the innovation solves.
  3. Explain how the innovation is a breakthrough from the status quo. What makes it better than anything else that’s currently in the space?

Live Pitch Judging Criteria:

  • The Idea (60%): Describe a problem in this world and how the innovation helps to solve the problem. How is the innovation a breakthrough from the status quo?
  • The Market (20%): The most innovative ideas will sit on the shelf, if nobody wants to buy it. Identify a specific group of people who are potential customers (target market) and illustrate the size of the market. More importantly, provide evidence for the desire and need for the innovation.
  • The Competition (20%): Business ideas that have big potential will likely have existing competitors in the same market. Identify potential direct and indirect competitors, and explain what sets the business idea apart (better, faster, stronger) from its competition.
Contestants are strongly encouraged to view Entrepreneurs’ Bootcamps 1A and 1B.
  • The University of Hawai‘i Honor Code applies to all participants of any PACE activity. While every effort will be made to preserve the confidentiality of each submission, it is suggested that highly sensitive material be excluded from the entry if a team is concerned about the confidentiality of such material. Note, however, that teams will be making final presentations to an open audience. Of course, technical drawings and formulae need not be shown at this presentation, or even included in the video.
  • The University of Hawai‘i and the organizers of the challenge cannot take further responsibility to protect the intellectual property or other rights of the competitors. Protection of such rights is ultimately the responsibility of each competitor. Competitors are urged to mark as “CONFIDENTIAL” any portion of their entries, which they consider to be confidential. The organizers, judges, and other affiliates of the Challenge will NOT enter into non-disclosure agreements with entering teams.
All team members must be present for the live pitch round and the awards reception or risk forfeiture of prize. Prize money will be disbursed in accordance with university policies. All federal and state taxes are the responsibility of the winners.

TIMELINE

DATE ACTIVITY DETAILS
September 19 Registration Opens Register online
October 5
5:00 to 6:30 p.m.
Session: What Every First-Time Entrepreneur Should Know
(optional but highly recommended)
Register online
October 25
12:00 Midnight
Registration Closes
Contestants must register before submitting an entry.
Register online
October 25
12:00 Midnight
Video Entry Deadline
If you have a team, members must be finalized.
Submit video HERE
November 2 Announcement of Finalists Notified by email
November 17 Final Event: Live Pitch
Registration for the event is required.
By invitation only

PAST CHALLENGES

RESOURCES

Check out a number of resources on the Resources page.

View Resources
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University of Hawaiʻi
An Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action Institution.
© 2020 Shidler College of Business. All rights reserved.
Website by Blue Logic Labs
2404 Maile Way, Room E-402, Honolulu, HI 96822
Intranet • Credits