[Students] The Lions' Innovation Showcase

[Tammie Bellotte]

The Lions' Innovation Showcase

The Lions' Innovation Showcase is an event where members of the entire Texas A&M University-Commerce community can exhibit and/or sell their creative/innovative product, service, or solution to the broader City of Commerce community. We encourage all faculty, staff and students to use this event as a platform to showcase their innovativeness and creativity in any domain of their interest (e.g., art, physics, dance, music, culinary, marketing, social entrepreneurship, sports, health). The first Lions' Innovation Showcase will take place during the Fall 2014 semester on November 22nd (the specific time is still to be determined) on the City of Commerce Square. We anticipate having this event at the end of each Spring and Fall semester thereafter. While the event will take place in Commerce, the university encourages students from all of our off-site locations to be a part of this event and showcase their innovation.
Purpose: the purpose of this initiative is to influence faculty, staff and student attitudes at A&M-Commerce towards an opportunity for recognition and/or value creation mindset that encourages the pursuit of dreams by embracing proactivity, creativity, innovativeness and risk-taking. This mindset is in line with the university mission to 'shape the future' and 'transform lives' by producing leaders and life-long learners. Also, the initiative supports the University's values: "Ceaseless industry, fearless investigation, unfettered thought, and unselfish service to others through Integrity, Innovation, and Imagination."
Examples of exhibits: art students may want to display and offer for sale their artwork; engineering students may opt to have a stand to explain a new product they have designed and/or show a prototype; students taking an app design course might try to show and/or sell an innovative app they developed; business students might offer a product/service for sale; students pursuing social work may exhibit and/or pursue a venture/project that stimulates social value creation; music students might want to perform and/or sell their music. Different organizations might want to either exhibit their creations and/or raise funds for their organization, their members or for social benefit. In short, the purpose of the Showcase is to create a platform for students across campus to present their ideas to the community.
Prizes: All participants will be eligible to win prizes. While the specific categories and rewards have still not been defined, the general criteria are as follows:
1. Reflects knowledge of domain:
5-points: Develops product/service using in-depth/sophisticated domain-specific criteria

3-points: Develops product/service using adequate domain-specific criteria

1-point: Develops product/service using superficial and/or inaccurate domain-specific criteria

2. Satisfies a demand/need in the market:
5-points: The product/service creates great value for the intended target audience

3-points: The product/service creates some value for the intended target audience

1-point: The product/service does not create value for the intended target audience

3. Innovation/creativity:
5-points: Creates a novel/unique product/service and/or the way a product/service is delivered.

3-points: Modifies or finds new uses for existing products/services and/or the way they are delivered

1-point: Uses existing products/services and/or existing methods of delivery

4. Sustainability:
5-points: The project has the potential to be highly successful post the Lions' Innovation Showcase

3-points: The project has the potential to be moderately successful post the Lions' Innovation Showcase

1-point: The project does not have the potential to be successful post the Lions' Innovation Showcase

5. Presentation:
5-points: The exhibition of the product/service during the showcase clearly depicts the product/service being offered, draws heightened attention from the public and strongly elicits the desired behavior from the target market.

3-points: The exhibition of the product/service during the showcase somewhat depicts the product/service being offered, draws modest attention from the public and sporadically elicits the desired behavior from the target market.

1-point: The exhibition of the product/service during the showcase does not clearly depict the product/service being offered, does not draw attention from the public and does not elicit the desired behavior from the target market.

In summary, we hope that:

  *   Professors across disciplines encourage their students to present class projects involving creativity and innovativeness to participate; this activity offers students an experiential learning opportunity while creating a broader community awareness of tangible class outcomes
*

  *   Student organizations use the Showcase to raise funds and create community awareness of their mission
*

  *   Individual students participate to exhibit a new venture concept in order to raise seed capital, to sell a product/service to make extra money, to bolster their resume or simply to have fun

If you would like to participate in the Lions' Innovation Showcase, please email Dr. Mario Hayek at: mario.hayek at tamuc.edu<mailto:mario.hayek at tamuc.edu>; a webpage for the event is currently being developed and is expected to be launched at the beginning of the Fall 2014 semester.



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