in cooperation with University of Texas at Austin present: Dorothea Werhahn Aachen, March 2012 Idea-to-Product Europe 2012 Competition

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1 in cooperation with University of Texas at Austin present: Idea-to-Product Europe 2012 Competition Dorothea Werhahn Aachen, March Lehrstuhl Wirtschaftswissenschaften für Ingenieure und Naturwissenschaftler der RWTH Aachen

2 Idea-to-Product (I2P) Europe at RWTH Aachen University Concept Entry criteria Idea-to-Product (I2P) is an early-stage technology commercialization plan competition for students and PhDs of all disciplines Participants have to prove the validity and market potential of a new, innovative, and competitive product Competition entries should be unique and innovative, be feasible to implement, and address an identified market need, and they must have an underlying technology component Participants benefit from valuable feedback from the entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, engineers, and intellectual property attorneys on the judging panels The global competition is hosted by the University of Texas at Austin while the European preliminary decision is hosted by RWTH Aachen University in Germany The winning team from Europe will be send to the I2P Global Finals at the University of Stockholm, Sweden (Autumn 2011). The three top scoring teams will also receive great prizes. The technology associated with the product/service idea can either be owned by the participating university or by one or more of the student team members from that university Teams that do not own an underlying technology (or their university) could also apply for the I2P Europe Competition (inspiration source: Each team must have a faculty adviser with expertise in the technology underlying the product (although he/she need not attend the Challenge) Teams can consist of max. 5 members, but all must be either a current student or have been enrolled at the University sometime during the academic year preceding the event Teams are strongly recommended to have at least (a) one student member with an academic background in a relevant expert discipline, and (b) one student member with an academic background in business A single team member may meet both background requirements

3 I2P is not just another Business Plan Competition I2P: Technology commercialization plan Pre-business plan without team-building aimed at clarifying the commercial potential of a technology idea, and identification of a technology opportunity. The requirements for this approach are laid out in I2P International s questions to entering teams, who must be comprised of current university students: What is your product or idea? What is the technology that underlies your product/ idea? Is your underlying technology unique? Is your product or idea innovative? Who is your market and initial customer group (who will buy it)? What customers needs does your product/idea address (why they will buy)? Provide some indication of the general size of the market. How do you anticipate developing IP protection for your technology? Business plan Aimed at investors and focused around building a team to launch the new venture, identifying a full-blown business opportunity. Here are the judging criteria for a team s entry into its New Business Challenge: Is there a clearly identified market opportunity? Have the team identified a target segment? How far has the product/ service been developed? Is there any evidence of proof of concept or prototyping? Is there an appropriate team in place, or gaps in the team identified? Have the team identified a clear route to market and rollout strategy? How much progress has the team made? Was the presentation strong and convincing? Would you invest? Quality and experience of the team Financial statements and analysis Key differences summarized: Idea: technology commercialization competitions require an explicitly technology-based product or service, while BPCs rarely stipulate business type. Team: technology commercialization competitions, assume that technology businesses need to be run by experienced people so do not require that the presenting team pretends to be the business team; the team or at least a skeleton of it should already be established in a BPC, frequently putting relatively-inexperienced students at an automatic disadvantage. Investment: technology commercialization competitions assume an investment-credible team will be assembled when the technology is at the required state of development, so relatively early-stage ideas can be entered: since investors typically invest in teams, BPCs assume ideas will be investmentready. A technology-commercialization competition emphasizes university technology, does not over-privilege age & experience, and allows relatively early-stage ideas to enter.

4 Timetable Idea-to-Product (I2P) Europe 2012 Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3 Phase 4 Teams enter the competition by submitting a two-page document containing answers to a series of questions covering their technology, the best market for initial commercialization, and the basic intellectual property aspects of their project. The two-page documents will be evaluated using the key judging criteria uniqueness, innovativeness, and a clear market need. The best product concepts will be invited to participate in the European finals in front of a judging panel in Aachen. Qualified teams need to submit a five-page document describing their idea, the market pain, the initial target market, potential market barriers, the competition, and the intellectual property situation. Participating teams will have the chance to convince the judging panel of their innovative product. The winning team receives tickets to fly to Austin, Texas to participate in the I2P Global Finals. The three top scoring teams will also win great prizes. Deadline team registration: May 11 th, 12 pm Announcement of qualified teams: June 1 st Deadline product concept submission: June 12 th, 12 pm Free-Shot test presentation: June 28 th, 4 pm Final presentations: June 29 th, 4 pm Guideline for two-page document: lobal/images/stories/i2p_1st_ Round_Submission.pdf Guideline for five-page document: lobal/images/stories/i2p_5pg_ Report_Guide.pdf Judging criteria: lobal/images/stories/i2p_judgi ng_criteria.pdf

5 How to participate in I2P Europe 2012 What needs to be done? Teams need to register by sending an to until May 11 th 2012, including the following: the name of your team your selected team leader (contact person through the entire process) names, contact address and field of study of all team members your two-page document about your idea/technology (See guidelines: /I2P_1st_Round_Submission.pdf)

6 Further information and contact details Please visit for further information about registration, entry and judging criteria, timelines and the technology commercialization plan. Or join us on facebook Dorothea Werhahn I2P Europe Coordinator Telefon: 0241 / werhahn@win.rwth-aachen.de Prof. Dr. Malte Brettel Aachen Entrepreneurship Gründerzentrum Templergraben Aachen