THE PETE CONRAD SPIRIT OF INNOVATION AWARD The Pete Conrad Spirit of Innovation Awards program is the capstone of our combined science, technology, and entrepreneurial approach to education. The Award reflects Pete's dream to mobilize the next generation of entrepreneurs. It connects education, innovation, and entrepreneurship in a revolutionary model of incentivized student competition.

A conduit between classroom education and
real-world entrepreneurial ventures...

Our overall educational model begins with a scalable and sustainable pipeline that bridges the divide between STEM education, entrepreneurship, and industry. Through this pipeline, we not only educate students, but also provide the opportunity to bring their ideas into the commercial marketplace. The Pete Conrad Spirit of Innovation Awards pose specific value propositions to students and challenges them to design innovative new concepts to benefit various stem related industries.

The world's premier student innovative design
competition...

The Conrad Foundation partners with entrepreneurs, universities, businesses, and organizations within each field of study to select our Spirit of Innovation Award value propositions so that they create great connections between education and entrepreneurship. With a broad range of focused topics, students are encouraged to develop their ideas without being confined to a single challenge principal.

A catalyst for the commercialization of great ideas...

A series of grade-specific educational modules are created for each position. Our model follows national education benchmarks and standards for each grade. K-8th grade modules culminate each year with a simple competition for that grade. This incremental structure allows students to advance through the competitions until they reach high school. Once in high school, the students have the opportunity to compete in the Pete Conrad Spirit of Innovation Award.

Specific details, rules, and guidelines for competing in the upcoming Pete Conrad Spirit of Innovation Award will be released shortly on our official competition website. The information below provides a simplified overview of the award, but can be used to begin brainstorming your team's entries.

Award Guidelines Overview

The award challenges high school teams to develop their own innovative concepts to benefit a specific STEM area. Students detail their idea in a technical report, a business plan, and a prototype. They must demonstrate understanding of not only the concept itself, but also the business requirements needed to take their idea to the marketplace.

In 2008, students will compete in one of two categories:

Personal spaceflight: Assume you can go to space. Create an innovative concept and business plan for use in personal spaceflight.

Lunar exploration: Assume you can go to the moon. Create an entrepreneurial venture for lunar exploration.

Each year, the final awards program will bring the top student entrepreneurs together to present their ideas to a panel of experts in both business and STEM fields as well as to the public. Awards and scholarships are given to the best of the entrants in each topic area. One of the greatest benefits of student participation, however, is the amazing opportunity to connect with industry leaders and pursue the commercialization of their own innovative concepts. After the awards are given, we continue working with our finalists-providing the additional resources and opportunities necessary to commercialize their products.

Award Judging

Judging for the competition is conducted in two rounds. The first round requires teams to submit three documents: a technical paper, a business plan, and a graphical representation. These documents are judged by panels of scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs on five categories:

INNOVATION
PRACTICALITY
COMPLETENESS
MARKETABILITY
RELEVANCE

The top teams in each competition category are selected as finalists based upon their scores in the first round of judging. These teams are invited to the final competition program where they are required to present their idea to the industry and business experts. Teams are also required to setup an industry style tradeshow booth where they will sell their concept. The final round judging is a combination of scores from industry and entrepreneurs as well as public voting.

Public Participation

One of the great assets of the Pete Conrad Spirit of Innovation Awards is the ability for the public to be involved in selecting the most innovative students of the year. Finalists in the competition will create a video and team web page which will be voted on by the public through the competition website. These votes will serve as one third of the overall judging score. Internet users will also be able to participate in the "ask an expert" forum and will be given the opportunity to donate to their favorite team to support further work on their concept.

Competition Prizes

Each value proposition includes numerous awards for students. The current prize purse will be supplemented with new opportunities and cash awards as more partners are brought on board. Current prizes include:
1. Cash grants for each competition category to schools, teachers, and students to assist in continuing the development of the team concepts.
2. Finalist travel stipends to the final awards program where students will be able to participate in numerous seminars, workshops, and other special activities.
3. Plaques and medals will be given to the award finalists and winners to recognize their team.
4. Recognition on The Pete Conrad Spirit of Innovation Trophy& Display - a Stanley Cup style trophy and display that tours various science centers throughout the year.
5. Prestige from being recognized as the most innovative students of the year by world renowned experts in business and industry.
6. Connections to numerous companies and entrepreneurs who will work with the finalist teams to help push their concepts to the next levels of development and ultimately bring them to the marketplace.

Award History

In 2007, sharing the belief that innovation is driven by competition, Nancy Conrad partnered with the X PRIZE Foundation to create the Pete Conrad Spirit of Innovation Award. In the competition's first year the value proposition was to create an innovative concept for use in Teams from 9 states around the country competed. Of these teams, 10 were selected as finalists and invited to the X PRIZE Cup where they presented their concepts to a panel of experts and the 85,000 event attendees.

In January 2008, winners of the award unveiled the Pete Conrad Spirit of Innovation Award trophy at NASA Headquarters. This trophy, along with a display of the winning concepts, travels to numerous science centers and museums around the country. The trophy for the Spirit of Innovation Award was created by Eric Lindbergh, grandson of Charles Lindbergh. This trophy, a futuristic rocket, contains a scroll with the names of the winners. The names of the first Spirit of Innovation Award winners will be carried to space with Richard Garriott, the 2008 space tourist.

2007 Award Finalists included:

Aerospace Concepts, Eustace, Texas.
GADastro, Northbrook, Illinois. Las Cruces CAP Cadets,
Las Cruces, New Mexico.
Michael & Talia, Los Angeles, California.
PenguinED, Friendswood, Texas.
SEDS-UCF, Orlando, Florida.
SUDDS, Lubbock, Texas.
Team Tangent, Perkasie, Pennsylvania.
The Royals, Nashville, Tennessee.
Three Tekna Theos Girls, Orange Park, Florida.

PenguinED was selected as the third place team for their design of a new educational program. Team GADastro was selected as the 2nd place team for their MRVE concept of a self healing space fabric. Team "Michael & Talia" from Los Angeles, California was chosen as the 2007 competition winners. Led by Michael Hakimi and Talia Nour-Omid, the team designed a concept for space-traveler sunglasses that also monitored a body's vital signs non-invasively.