Recipe for the Future: Pete Conrad Spirit of Innovation Awards Program Combines Entrepreneurship, Imagination and High-School Innovators
Moffett Field, CA – April 12, 2010 – The Conrad Foundation’s 2010 Innovation Summit concluded over the weekend with the announcement of this year’s Pete Conrad Spirit of Innovation Award winners. The program encourages high-school students to solve the challenges of the 21st century by creating breakthrough technologies in one of four categories: aerospace, green schools, renewable energy and space nutrition.
All winners were chosen from the 21finalist teams that assembled for the annual Spirit of Innovation Awards’ Innovation Summit at the NASA Ames Conference Center in Moffett Field, Calif., from April 8 to 10, 2010. The teams were joined by notable leaders such as Lori Garver, deputy administrator of NASA; Miles O’Brien, chairman of the NASA Advisory Council for Education and Public Outreach; Steve Westly of the Westly Group; Chairman Jon Wellinghoff of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission; and entrepreneurs Rafe Furst, John Gage, Fred Nazem and Ari Meisel.
For the awards presentation, Foundation chairman Nancy Conrad was joined by special guest, recording artist and music producer Pharrell Williams of N.E.R.D.
Grand prize winners, taking home the coveted title of 2010 Pete Conrad Scholars, were Falcon Robotics (aerospace), Green MAST (green schools), ACWa (renewable energy) and AM Rocks (space nutrition). In addition to the $5,000 cash prize awarded to each winning team, every member also receives a one-year student membership in American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and a one-year affiliate membership to Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society. Each team’s coach also receives a $500 stipend via the AIAA Coaches Award.
The National Space Biomedical Research Institute Award for Innovation in Space Exploration Health Care went to Hexigami from Littleton, Colo., for their lunar habitat’s unique ability to shield future explorers from radiation. The $5,000 cash prize is awarded to the team with the best aerospace-related human health product.
As the name implies, the People’s Choice Award was bestowed on the team with the largest percentage of the 34,000 votes cast during the online, public voting period. The top vote-getter, AM Rocks, received two seats on a zero-gravity flight. And, in a last-minute bonus, they will be joined on the flight by Williams. Runners-up were Ramana, TJ Alpha and Falcon Robotics.
Also of note for all participants, Clarkson University will award up to 12 merit scholarship to finalist team members who apply and are accepted to the university. Recipients will receive a scholarship of up to $6,000.
First, second and third place teams from each competition category received educational grants of $10,000, $6,000 and $4,000, respectively, with the total prize purse being supplemented by additional funding from public support received through the team profile pages. First place teams will be inducted as Conrad Laureates and invited to participate as Advisory Board members for The Conrad Foundation upon their graduation from high school.
Each team presented its product during the Innovation Summit, which brought these students face-to-face with educators and entrepreneurs for a series of seminars and workshops to provide guidance on taking winning projects to the commercial marketplace.
“It was incredible to have such young entrepreneurs, some in their early 20s, come in and shared their stories with these bright students, who are just a step away from achieving the same level of success,” Conrad said.
During the Summit’s seminars and workshops, students learned valuable lesions from a roster of high-profile speakers, including the most notable, and likely the most counter-intuitive, of all – failure is an option.
“In entrepreneurship and in business, failure is an option,” Conrad said. “You have to fail to understand how to succeed. You must keep pushing to get it done, and believe in what you’re doing.”
The winning teams were chosen by a panel of judges made up of top-level academia and industry representatives, with input from public voting at www.conradawards.org. Finalists were asked to submit three documents for their concept: a technical report, a business plan and a graphical representation.
“To have government, industry and academia all there to support these students was amazing,” Conrad said. “For so many of these high-caliber individuals to come and wave the flag for students, it tells us how important it is to maintain an innovative workforce.”
After the event, all teams have the opportunity to raise additional funds to facilitate the continued development of their projects into commercial viability. Visitors to the profile pages have the opportunity to donate directly to the development of their favorite team’s project, or they can donate to the team’s sponsoring school, helping continue excellence in science and technology education. Information about each team can be found on the Pete Conrad Spirit of Innovation Awards official Web site: www.conradawards.org.
About the Spirit of Innovation Awards
The Spirit of Innovation Awards and Innovation Summit are presented by the Conrad Foundation in partnership with the NASA Ames Research Center. The teams participating in the Conrad Awards program at the Innovation Summit are designing the future.
About The Conrad Foundation
The Conrad Foundation is a not-for-profit foundation designed to energize and engage students in science and technology through unique entrepreneurial opportunities. The Foundation builds upon the legacy of heroes in our past to nurture the heroes of our future. By enabling young minds to connect education, innovation and entrepreneurship, the Conrad Foundation provides a bold platform for enriching human capital.
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