This is part of a series of posts that chronicle our very first Innovate This! on March 17, 2012: Part 1, Part 3
We certainly didn’t envy the task we laid out for our esteemed panel of judges at Innovate This! It was not easy to narrow down the pool of 12 top contenders to only 3 finalists when all products had impressive elements of design. The judges deliberated longer than we had imagined, noting the high level of competition from the initial pitch round.
To navigate this task, the judges followed the judging criteria we had distributed to the students before the competition:
1. Teamwork and collaboration (10 pts)
2. Cool kickstarter.com reward (10 pts)
3. Creates significant value (10 pts)
4. Meets design criteria (15 pts)
5. Dramatic, eye-catcing design (15 pts)
6. Potential for market success (20 pts)
7. Delights moms (20 pts)
In the end, the distribution favored products that effectively defined and addressed the product requirements and consumer needs. And finally, the day’s top three teams were named… 
Top 3 (in no particular order):
1. Team Delepine and their Kup (Tiphaine Delepine, Quentin Delepine, Emily Wang)
2. Team Suppy and their Sups (Shivaani Sharma, Lance Fong, Hari Ramachandran, Nicholas Fong)
3. Team Big Blue and their Hip Sip (Gregory Hosono, Kailash Sundaram, Noah Hornik)
The judges concluded that all products were exciting, but some were better suited for a different consumer, and for that reason, they did not make the top 3. These 3 teams had the opportunity to engage in a second, more in-depth Q&A session led by the judging panel, giving the judges extra assurance that they fully understood the potential of each team’s design and product, and how they addressed consumer requirements. These teams blew everyone away with how articulately they were able to convey their ideas…but in the end, only one first place winner could be chosen.
Hats off to our judges: Gower Smith (Keiretsu Forum; ZoomSystems), Greg Hargrove (Alliance of CEOs), Steve Escobar (WAGIC), Yugen Lockhart (WAGIC). Thank you for your dedication to ensuring the fairness of the process, as well as your enthusiasm for each team’s idea!
Be sure to check back for the final installment in our behind-the-scenes posts, and to meet the winning team.
