Appalachian team wins Juicy Ideas Collegiate Competition

By ASU News Service

Students from Appalachian State University won first place in the Western North Carolina regional Juicy Ideas Collegiate Competition. The competition challenged student teams to create something of value out of plastic bottles and communicate a message of environmental responsibility on video.

The award-winning team IDSA App 7 created a bicycle from plastic bottles. Members of the team are junior Ryan Klinger, senior Andrew Drake, junior Spencer Price and junior Justin Henry. All are industrial design majors in Appalachian’s Department of Technology.

A video documenting their project is online at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3-tKX446VM.

The students will split $5,000 in scholarship monies from AdvantageWest and the Inception Micro Angel Fund along with prizes and professional development opportunities, including paid internships with the Blue Ridge Sustainability Institute.

The top three teams from the region will advance to the national competition. The national winner will be announced in mid-December. The grand prize-winning team will receive an all expense-paid trip to Google headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., in February.

Teams representing 14 community colleges and universities and 575 students participated in the competition organized by AdvantageWest Economic Development Group as a way to encourage entrepreneurship.

The competition also was sponsored by DigitalChalk, American Green, Jute Networks and Google.

Student teams had 10 days to create their contest entry and upload a video of their project to YouTube. A panel of top technology entrepreneurs, civic and business leaders and educators evaluated the entries on qualities such as originality, creativity, entrepreneurship, innovation and environmental responsibility.

“Some of the videos were so creative that, with a little re-editing, they might be turned into 30-second public service ads,” said Erskine Bowles, president of the UNC System and one of six judges for the regional competition. “Some ideas might be demonstrated on community college and university campuses as a way of raising consciousness about the importance of re-use and recycling.”

Other judges on the panel were Ryan Allis, CEO of iContact; Robin Cape, Asheville City Council; Scott Ralls, President of the North Carolina Community College System; and Susie Vaks and Mary Radomile, senior program managers, Google Inc.

A story about the top three WNC teams aired recently on the public television program “North Carolina Now.” The six-minute segment can be viewed online at UNC-TV’s Web site at www.unctv.org/ncnow/socialentrepreneurs/juicyideas.html. All competition videos, including those from other regions, can be viewed at: www.youtube.com/group/juicyideas.

According to Dale Carroll, president and CEO of AdvantageWest, entrepreneurship continues to play a major role in the global economy and is increasingly important to the long-term health and growth of rural regions across America.

“As the economic development commission for the 23 counties of western North Carolina, AdvantageWest continuously explores new and innovative paths to encourage the spirit of entrepreneurship as part of its economic development strategy,” he said. “We believe one of the best ways to accomplish this is by encouraging the use of technology and stimulating creativity in the youth of the region – beginning in kindergarten and continuing through their post-secondary education.”

Second place was awarded to The Might Kites from Western Piedmont Community College in Morganton for wall insulation. A wind energy system developed by a team from Western Carolina University won third place.

Teams from Appalachian’s Department of Technology also won fourth and fifth place.