Fourteen contestants pitched ideas from app creations to social justice organizations with both having one goal in mind: make a difference in the community. The 10 award recipients of this year’s event were Town Hall Project, Just Drive, The Happy Institute, Dallas Community Bail Fund, Boulevard Bicycle, Robotics Club, Alternative Website Modernization, Signal Capital, SPOT and for Us.
“I want everyone on the road to be safe and with my app, Just Drive, drivers will have more of an incentive to keep their eyes on the road at all times,” junior Neha Husein said.
The contestants put their creative minds to the test and competed for glory at the 14th annual Big iDeas Pitch Contest yesterday evening at the Hughes Trigg Forum. The Big iDeas contest is a way for students to display their entrepreneurial talents to the public to hopefully one day start their own business or create a new prototype to help benefit society.
“This is part of our engaged learning tree and our branch for innovation and entrepreneurship, director of Engaged Learning Susan Kress said.
“We want out students to think outside of the box and become world changers.”
The contestants pitched their ideas to 4 judges and a room of spectators. They had 90 seconds to pitch their idea followed by a Q&A session with the judges. The 10 winners receive $1000 to help start their business.
Innovation in a nutshell is when someone comes up with an idea of something that is better,” Cox School of Business Professor and entreprenuer of practice Jerry White said.
“It is the empowerment to create your own future, sense of pride and sense worth, jobs for others, contribution to the world and ability to give back.”
Ideas varied from app creations to social justice organizations with both having one goal in mind: make a difference in the community.
Past winners of the event have launched successful businesses in the Dallas area.
“We have students that have pitched 4 years ago that now have their own companies. It’s great to see how this event has propelled successful business careers for our alumni,” Kress said.
