Inventionland Institute's 2019 Regional Invention Contest

3rd

Annual Regional Invention Contest

2019

Imagine what it would

feel like to pitch your

invention to investors.

You’ve spent months taking time out of your day perfecting your product, workshopping it with friends, and pitching it to anyone who will listen. You’ve built prototypes, designed your packaging, researched your competition, and even looked into potential retail locations. And now you’ve landed a meeting with some investors- this is it. To put your product in its best light, you prepare a presentation, a commercial, a PowerPoint- and you bring your prototype along as well.

You’re ready.

You walk into their ‘office space’ and you can practically hear “Pure Imagination” playing in your head as you look around. On your right there’s a pirate ship, on your left a giant robot, in the distance you see a treehouse and house that looks like it’s straight out of Hansel and Gretel. You’re nervous, but also excited as you’re greeted and shown to the waiting area. You run over the presentation in your head as you wait for your name to be called, checking and doublechecking your statistics, facts, and figures. Before you know it, you hear your name and you’re ushered into a giant white castle. Within the castle, three judges are seated before you at a table- Shark Tank style.

You take a deep breath and run them through your pitch- what problem(s) your invention solves, the cost to manufacture your invention, and what your marketing strategy will be. At the end, they ask you a few polite questions- what’s the cost to manufacture vs. sell your product? What stores would sell your product? What materials would you use to manufacture it?

After they’ve asked their questions and jotted down some notes, they smile and send you on your way.

Now, what if we told you that the ‘you’ in this scenario was a high schooler? Or a middle schooler? Or even an elementary school student?

It may sound like we’re overly ambitious to think that students could handle a product pitch scenario, but our Inventionland Institute Regional Contest is proof that we aren’t.

Every year, students from around the country

journey to our Inventionland headquarters to be immersed in a product-pitching competition.

They’ve spent their school semester (or year) participating in our the Inventionland Institute Curriculum, which tasks each student to (either alone or as part of a group) create an original invention. This involves each of the complex steps involved in real-world inventing: brainstorming, product sketching, prototyping, product design, product packaging, and even creating a commercial and product pitch.

One unique aspect to the way the class is structured is that the whole process is left completely up to the students. their roles in the project aren’t assigned and they aren’t being lectured or micromanaged throughout the class. This gives each student the freedom to fall into roles they had no idea they’d thrive in and/or truly enjoy. One of the commonalities among all the student presenters, regardless of their age groups, is that they were surprised by something. Whether were surprised because they didn’t think they were capable of creating an original product, surprised that they were better at one particular role than they thought they’d be, surprised by how well they worked together in their group, or surprised by how much they fell in love with a certain part of the process- each student leaves the project and presentation with a new understanding of themselves.

This year we noticed (as we have in years past) that the students have only grown more imaginative, innovative, and creative. We had students pitch products that ranged from a machine that helps you reuse 3D printing materials to headphones with extra jacks (so you can listen with friends) to a garbage can that can automatically sort your garbage and recycling using light sensors.

We were able to speak with one of the judges, Lauren Johnson, about how she’s noticed the students improving over the years, “I was so impressed with all of the students and their inventions. I attended the contest last year as well and noticed they came even more prepared this year. Almost every group had lists of their competitors, manufacturing vs. selling prices, and a list of stores they’d want to work with already built into their presentations,” she said. “They’ve also learned to nail another aspect of the product pitching processthat you’re not just trying to sell your product, you’re also selling yourself as a business partner. The incredibly well-spoken, friendly, and passionate pitches we saw went well beyond the years of these students.”

And, year after year, we consistently see students feeling more engaged and passionate about the Inventionland Institute Curriculum. When asked how their involvement in this class differed from that of others, the students from the Middle School Leechburg Anti-Splash Pet Bowl team had this to say: “We’re more involved in this [class] because in other classes we’re just sitting at a desk, learning and in this one we have a chance to be ourselves.”

In addition, when we asked the Middle School Grove City Kwick Clean Brush team what they thought of the curriculum and if they felt more engaged than in other classes, they collectively had this to say,

“I think [this class] was really nice and it gave us a little bit of freedom and the headspace to really take this on our own path…

I think we’ve both definitely felt [more engaged] just because, you know, this is like a part of you. It’s like our product is our child, basically.”

Although (as our founder George Davison stated in his speeches) all of the students are winners in our eyes,

High School Winners

keeping with the real-life business scenario structure we did need to choose our favorites and show them some extra love.

Without further ado, here are the winners of the 2019 Inventionland Institute Regional Invention Contest:

1st

1st Place: Altoona The Drip Grip

Coming soon to market!

(we have to keep it a secret for now!)

Have you ever baked cupcakes and gotten batter all over the pan? You spend so much time after baking scrubbing and scraping to get the now dried and useless batter off. Well, the Drip Grip students found the perfect solution. They created a protective cover that can be placed over the pan when you’re filling your cupcake wrappers. Once the wrappers are filled, you simply remove the covering and wipe off the excess batterit’s that simple. The students from this group came extremely prepared with a flawless sales pitch, packaging, and even who they’d like to work with- Tasty! As anyone who works in the product creation industry can attest- simple and cost effective inventions are the easiest to sell.

2nd

3rd

2nd Place: Burgettstown

3nd Place: Altoona

Lockdown Bar

Take Charge Chargeable Binder

This project honed in on a very prevalent issue that faces the world today- school shootings.

The proposed invention is a bar that can be attached to the upper frame of a door and can be used as a more secure lock system in the event of a school shooting or attacker. The project was created in immense detail, with fully-functioning prototype created with materials specifically chosen to withstand shots if need be. The competition was also thoroughly researched and this product clearly outweighed their competitors in terms of safety. This is an incredibly tragic subject to ponder, but the student behind this project is working to prevent those tragedies and keep innocent people safe.

Now that technology has evolved in education, students are often tasked to use tech devices like computers and iPads as part of their curriculum. While there are a lot of obvious advantages to this, it can also be tough to rely so heavily on battery life.

After seeing classmates lose points on projects after their iPad batteries failed them, the idea of a chargeable binder was born. The binder comes built-in with a charging port to serve as a backup in case your iPad dies in the middle of class. Not only was the fully-functioning prototype impressive, but the competition was well-researched and the sales pitch was wellspoken and persuasive.

Middle School Winners

1st

1st Place: Grove City Kwick Clean Brush Anyone with long hair can understand the struggle of hairbrush build up. The more you use it, the more hair gets coated onto it and removing it isn’t anyone’s favorite chore.

Well, the students from Grove City came up with a solution- the Kwick Clean Brush! This brush comes with a detachable plastic sheet that will force the hair off so you don’t have to spend time yanking at strands.

Another thoroughly researched project, this brush bests the competition because competitor’s products don’t have reusable sheets- making theirs more budget-conscious and environmentally friendly. This group even created a QR code which leads directly to their product’s commercial.

2nd

2nd Place: Haine Smart Plate Let’s face it: sporting events aren’t the most friendly to the hearing impaired. The sounds of buzzers, the umpire or referee yelling rulings, the coaches yelling plays, the screams of the crowd- it can be hard to follow along if you’re missing all of these things, especially as a player. The team from Haine wanted to help with this problem by creating the Smart Plate.

Specifically targeted toward baseball and softball players, this is an electronic home plate with a series of lights that correspond with the different calls an umpire will make during a game. Though the group mentioned they’d want to add a protective covering to their next iteration to protect the plate from outdoor elements, they actually learned to code with Hummingbird to make their prototype function.

3rd

3nd Place: Fort Cherry E-Z Cleaner As a parent, you’re always cleaning up messes- especially during meals. Students from Fort Cherry came up with an invention to help with meal time messes. They created a tray that has a little trash bag built into the bottom of the cup holder. So you can use the cup holder as normal, but then when mealtime is done you can simply sweep all of the leftover crumbs into the cup holder and replace the trash bag. The group took us step by step through each of their prototypes and how they made improvements each time- like adding an outer ledge to prevent food from spilling onto the floor.

Elementary School Winners

1st

1st Place: Alison Park Super Coaster None of us is immune to the struggle of spills, and neither is this group from Allison Park. They were inspired for their invention because they’ve had friends who have spilled liquids on laptops and important papers. To help solve that problem, they designed the Super Coaster. This is a coaster with a protective barrier and a suction cup design so it will stick to the table. They took us through their various prototypes, showed off their packaging design, and even had a comical commercial and slogan. They each found enjoyment in different parts of the inventing process- from brainstorming to building to marketing.

2nd

3rd

2nd Place: Claysville

3nd Place: Leechburg

Kool Dogs Bandana

Teacher’s Pen Pet

All dog owners have worried about how their beloved pet is handling the heat. You want to be able to give your dog proper exercise in the summer, but there are some days that are so hot it seems almost cruel to take them outside. To help, the students from Claysville created the Kool Dogs Bandana. This is a bandana that has a velcro pouch with a built in cylindrical ice pack. You simply keep your pack in the freezer and then pop it in and it can help keep your pup from overheating. These students had to learn to sew to create the hidden pouch and even thought to include a size range for pups of all shapes and sizes.

This group was inspired to create their invention when they saw their teachers struggling to keep track of their smartboard pens. So they created a simple pen holder that can be attached to their badge lanyards. Not only is the product simple and cost-effective, but the group came prepared with both their product packaging and a slogan- Every school teacher needs one! They also went into detail about where they’d like to sell their product and, in the next stage of development, they’d like to expand their market because the product could also be used in business settings as well.

Ultimately, at Inventionland Institute,

we believe in preparing our students for the real world. Through this curriculum, we allow students to try their hands at several potential and thriving occupations and allow them to figure out where their talents and passions lie.

inventionlandinstitute.com • 585 Alpha Dr, Pittsburgh, PA 15238 • info@inventionlandinstitute.com • 1-800-585-8434