The VIP Consortium Innovation Competition provides a forum for VIP teams from around the world to showcase their work and be recognized for their accomplishments. VIP teams from any of the 44 institutions that are part of the VIP Consortium are eligible to enter the competition.  Each competing VIP team is asked to prepare a brief presentation about their project (no more than 6 minutes long) addressing the following “Heilmeier” questions:

GOALS

• What are you trying to do? Articulate your objectives using absolutely no jargon.

INNOVATION

• How is it done today, and what are the limits of current practice?
• What is new in your approach and why do you think it will be successful?

IMPACT

• Who cares?
• If you are successful, what difference will it make?

VIABILITY

• What are the risks?
• How much will it cost?
• How long will it take?
• What are the mid-term and final criteria for success?

In addition to the above areas, teams will also be evaluated on PRESENTATION EFFECTIVENESS. Students are encouraged to be creative in their approach and to incorporate visuals to illustrate content rather than relying on text-heavy slides. Brief animations or video clips are permissible in presentations if suited to the content.

There are usually three levels of competition (local, regional, and international). Formats for the first two rounds are determined by the local/regional organizers. Teams may benefit from interaction with an audience in earlier rounds – either in person or in an online format. Regardless of format, facilitators stop each presentation promptly at the six-minute mark and notify teams in advance that they will be doing so. During live local and regional competitions, judges may be permitted to ask questions after each presentation, but the Q&A period is strictly limited to 15 minutes.

The final (international) level of competition is entirely virtual: competing teams are asked to record their presentations with audio narration or subtitles in English, and to provide access to their presentations via web links. 

Winners and finalists for the 2020/2021 Competition were:

First Place Winner:
Early Bushfire Detection
Mini Solar VIP Team - University of New South Wales (Australia)

Second Place (Tie):
Safe Autonomous Mobility for the Visually Impaired
Sixth Sense VIP Team - New York University (US)

Second Place (Tie):
Co-curricular, multi-national, multi-disciplinary, vertically integrated engineering design of Aircraft for Rhino and Environmental Defense
AREND VIP Team - University of Pretoria (South Africa)

Additional Finalists:

Collaboration of Autonomous Drone and Autonomous Vehicle
D2V VIP Team - Inha University (South Korea)

Shared Engagement Recovery Violence Elimination (SERVE) Mobile Tool
Health Informatics on FHIR VIP Team - Georgia Institute of Technology (US)

Purpose-Built Eco-Machine for Treatment and Reuse of Waste Water
Waste Water VIP Team - Riga Technical University (Latvia)

Biological Battery
Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible VIP Team - Universidad Mayor (Chile)

Decision Making for Policies & Investment in Sao Paolo, Brazil
UNICAMP VIP Team - University of Campinas (Brazil)

Clean, affordable, sustainability energy solutions and increased energy access in Malawi
Solar Microgrids for Sustainable Development VIP Team - University of Strathclyde (Scotland)

For the 2019/2020 VIP Innovation Competition, the regional finalists were:

Asia – Sens'er', Inha University (South Korea)

Europe – RoVER, University of Strathclyde (Scotland)

Southern Hemisphere – MATSim, University of Pretoria (South Africa)

US - Northeast – Social Sphere, Howard University (Washington, D.C.)

US - Southeast – Robotic Human Augmentation, Georgia Tech (Georgia) (Overall Winner)