Technology Innovation Awards Application Form Deadline: Friday, May 18, 2012 (6 p.m. New York time) This deadline is firm. We do not give extensions. The Wall Street Journal invites individuals, companies, organizations and government agencies world-wide to apply for the Technology Innovation Awards. We re looking for technological breakthroughs in such areas as medicine, software, wireless and consumer electronics. Innovations should go far beyond marginal improvements in existing products and services. Winners will be chosen by an independent panel of judges and will be featured in the Technology Innovations Report, appearing online and in The Wall Street Journal s three global editions on October 15, 2012. (This date is subject to change. Please check our Web site for any updates.) Please complete and return this form with any supporting documentation by May 18, 2012 (6 p.m. New York time) to: innovation@wsj.com. There is no fee to enter. Supporting documents are optional, but many applicants send us research papers, examples of media coverage and testimonials from third-party sources or customers. You are also welcome to include short video presentations (or, preferably, links to such videos) as part of your application. Important note for Biotech/Medical applicants: Medical innovations requiring FDA approval in the U.S. (or the equivalent in other countries) should have received such approval before being submitted to this contest. We will not consider innovations that are still in clinical trials because the eventual outcome of the trials is unknown. Judges will assess the applications primarily on three criteria: --Does the innovation break with conventional ideas or processes in its field?
--Does it go beyond marginal improvements on something that already exists? --Will it have a wide impact in its field or on future technology? For questions about the contest, please contact Journal News Editor John Leger, in the U.S. at 1.609.520.5546, or at innovation@wsj.com. Part I: Contact Details Name and FULL contact details, including e-mail address, of the person filling out this application: Name and FULL contact details of the person, company or organization you are nominating. If you re nominating an organization or company, please provide us with the names, titles and contact details of the person(s) most responsible for the innovation. Nominee s Web address: Category (choose only one): Try to choose the one category most closely related to your innovation. If your innovation does not fit one of the categories, please specify another category in the space following Other. Computing Systems and Storage Consumer Electronics
E-Commerce Energy and Power Environment Health-Care IT Manufacturing Technology Materials and Other Base Technologies Medical Devices Medicine and Biotech Network and Internet Technologies Robotics Network Security Personal Security Semiconductors/Electronics Software Technology Product Design/Industrial Design Note: This refers to the aesthetics of an innovation, such as cool design. Transportation Wireless Communications Other (Please specify): We would like you to answer a number of questions about your innovation. The questions appear in two parts: an Executive Summary where we ask you to briefly introduce your innovation. And a second part in which we ask you to elaborate on the innovation at greater length. PART I: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1) What, briefly, is your innovation? Please limit your response here to fewer than 50 words. (Example: Displays based on light-emitting inks.) 2) What is the current situation in the field in which your innovation appears? Please limit your response here to fewer than 50 words. (Example: Color screens are becoming widely embedded in a range of consumer devices such as cellphones and PDAs.)
3) What is the problem with this situation that your innovation is seeking to address? Please limit your response here to fewer than 50 words. (Example: However, these screens are expensive and they drain batteries fast.) 4) How does your innovation address this situation? Please limit your response here to fewer than 50 words. (Example: By using a new technology based on light-emitting inks, displays can be made more cheaply and use less power.) 5) What is particularly novel or noteworthy about your innovation? Please limit your response here to fewer than 50 words. (Example: We are the only company to develop displays based on light-emitting inks and are the first to bring devices to the market.) PART II: A CLOSER LOOK We would now like you to explain your innovation in greater detail. 1) What is the innovation and what, exactly, is novel or unique about it? Please be specific in telling how it s a clear improvement over what already exists or what is already meeting customers needs. We re interested here in what s new technologically, not the marketing pitch. 2) What impact do you expect the innovation to have on its field or on other fields? 3) Is the innovation a completely new technology or is it a new combination or packaging of well-established technologies?
4) If your innovation is a product, when did it first appear on the market? 5) An innovation should have achieved some significant milestone since January 1, 2011, such as granting of a patent, introduction on the market, significant upgrade of an existing product, etc. What milestones have been achieved since that date? 6) Please state if the innovation is patented, copyrighted, published in a technical journal, or otherwise "on the record" with any recognized arbiters of innovation. If so, please provide details. 7) Please describe any practical results that the innovation has achieved to date, such as sales, profits, users, citations, prizes, etc. For biomedical technologies, it is important to cite and summarize the results of published studies demonstrating improved health outcomes. Failure to do so will disqualify the application. 8) We are interested in knowing more about the primary innovator/innovation team. Please summarize the background(s) of the primary innovator/inventor or innovation team, including any previous experience in the field. 9) For private companies: Have you received venture-capital funding? If so, please provide details, such as names of the VC investors. 10) Now that you have developed this innovation, what do you plan to do with it? (Introduce it to market, ramp up production, license it to others, seek venture-capital funding, or what?)
11) Are you aware of any competitors or others working on--or who have introduced--a similar innovation? If so, how is your innovation different from theirs? How is your innovation superior to theirs? Please return this form and any supporting documentation by May 18, 2012 (6 p.m. New York time) to: innovation@wsj.com.