I-69 Challenge

February 16, 2010 10:24

Over the weekend, I was a competitor at the I-69 Collegiate Innovation Challenge. This event was basically a rapid business concept development competition. We were given a broad social issue and a single night to come up with a for-profit solution to it.

The teams for the event were not known until we arrived at the conference center. Each of the five participating schools (Ball State, Anderson, Huntington, Indiana Wesleyan, and Taylor) each brought five students. Rather than having the schools compete against one another, the teams consisted of one person from each of the five schools. This forced us to learn how to work together quickly.

After tossing out many ideas, we eventually settled on a fitness center targeted at overweight individuals. Typical gyms are intimating for the average person because everyone is in good shape and generally knows what they are doing. Our idea was to create a better environment for overweight people to exercise in. This includes focusing heavily on aerobic activities and allowing more privacy than a typical gym.

After a night of planning and practicing, we presented our idea to the panel of judges. I guess they received it pretty well, as we ended up winning first place.

All in all, it was a great experience. I learned a lot about concept development and working together to achieve a common goal. It was intense and quite stressful at times, but it was ultimately a lot of fun.