Today was ICE Challenge Day in my class, one of my favorite days of the year.
The sponsor of the Challenge is Villanova’s own ICE Institute, where ICE stands for Innovation, Creativity, and Entrepreneurship. Here is a brief description of the Challenge:
The ICE Challenge is an annual requirement for all students entering the Villanova School of Business, Villanova College of Engineering, and Villanova College of Nursing. In the first eight weeks of the academic year, students propose and pitch ideas in their required first-year classes. The top teams receive prizes and an opportunity to pitch their idea at the ICE Challenge IdeaBounce®.
I had the opportunity to listen to 40 idea pitches today, and in a sign of the times, 10 of the ideas were in direct response to the pandemic and COVID-19. Here are those ideas:
- Mask dispensing machine
- SafeStep (designed to assist with opening doors)
- FogBlocker
- Mask Sanitizing Machine
- Contactless Bathroom
- Mask Managers
- Germ Buffer
- Mask Cleaner
- Mobile Haircutting/Manicures
- Clean Screen
So 25% of the ideas are COVID/Pandemic related; ideas that would not have existed last year.
I think this shows that COVID is certainly on many of the students’ minds, and it’s no surprise. After all, this is the group that missed out on the end of their high school days. They did not know what college would be like, and have adapted quite well so far in terms of wearing masks and sanitizing their chairs and seats.
And now when they are given the opportunity to fight back, they do so with some clever ideas.
It will be interesting to see if any of the ideas progress on the next round of the C\hallenge; I will write a follow-up when the finalists are announced.
Some people look at COVID-19 and see the problems; others look at COVID-19 and see the opportunities…
*image from FoxNews
Interesting! I like the Mobile hair cutting and manicure the best. 🙂
Contactless bathrooms is Interesting. What exactly do they mean by that?
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I think the idea behind the contactless bathroom was one in which your hands did not have to touch any surface in the bathroom – using sensors for everything…
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My idea would be a speakeasy style hugging business, where people employ a secret knock to be allowed admittance into a room full of other people who aren’t wearing masks. Everybody gets to hug each other, thus experiencing some human contact they have been missing in their lives. A secret tunnel allows everyone to escape in a hurry, in case of a raid by the Covid police.
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there might be a need for another secret tunnel that leads right to the ICU…
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Well, that is a risk.
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🙂
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Do many of the ideas involve apps? Coming up with a great app seems to be the way to become an instant billionaire. You might lose some good students with this competition if they think they can make money with their ideas. Is there ever an issue about ownership of ideas?
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of the other 30 ideas presented, probably 10-15 involved apps. I’d love to see a student pursue their idea further, but most, if not all, of them view this as just another assignment to complete. As for ownership, I believe part of the competition entails the students entering their idea at the University’s “incubator” web site, and once they do that, I think the idea is protected. Of course, I automatically get a 10% ownership stake in very business… 🙂
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Sounds fair. Now if one of your students comes up with the next Facebook, you can forget about checking stats. 😃
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I’d be checking the stock price constantly… 🙂
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It’s amazing how many of those exist that people may not be aware of. I like the idea of safe step where it cleans your shoes at the same time.
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Yes, the students only have a week to pull this together, so checking if the idea already exists is usually not a high priority (I think it would be one of the first things I would check…)
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What a great challenge! I do find it ironic that one of the most basic ideas (wear a mask) is so controversial. Who knew that public health would be a dealbreaker for some?
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it is ironic. and it’s not like masks are new – doctors and nurses have been wearing masks for close to 100 years…
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I love this challenge! This is exactly how to encourage creativity and entrepreneurship. This is the validation of ideas that blooms into success and innovation. I am not surprised that Covid has impacted the list of ideas. Innovation is often fueled by necessity and proximity. This freshman class, who missed out on high school graduation and now attend university under unusual circumstances, may well surprise us as they turn the negatives into positives for their lives. Great post and challenge. Kudos to the faculty for hosting such a great event!
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it is a fun event, and for me it’s almost like a day off! one of the ideas presented is already a product (the germ buffer) – the student created it in high school and has sold quite a few of them. In general, though, most students view this as just another assignment…
But I was happy to see the COVID-related products, at least it shows they put some thought into their idea…
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what a great exercise to begin, and clearly is getting them to think in new ways. products/ideas that are successful, fill a need and demand, and your students clearly see both elements are there, waiting to be filled. brilliant
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I just wish a few teams would pursue their ideas after this one day event, but for the most part, none of them do…
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Years ago, my friend’s roommate came up with the idea of avocado hummus, now an actual product, but not his as he never followed up on his idea after his class
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I wonder if he has any regrets, or refuses to eat it… 🙂
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hmmm
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hummmmmmus….
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it’s the classic case of more than one person coming up with the same idea, but one follows it to fruition and the others let it go
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fortune favors the bold…
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What an awesome initiative for new students at Villanova and elsewhere. Innovation, Creativity, and Entrepreneurship says it all. “Contactless Bathroom” has some appeal. Not sure of the ergonomics involved. NASA might have interest.
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it is a fun way to get the creative juices flowing, if only for a week. Most students forget about their idea right after they present. If NASA gets involved, it would be the most expensive bathroom ever designed… 🙂
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What a fantastic challenge! It’s true that necessity is the mother of all invention, but sometimes you need to give it a little nudge.
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it is a fun event for the students, a chance to work in a small team, come up with an idea, do some research, and present it to the class. It seems as if the pandemic has created many necessities…
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Hey, this sounds like a great idea and helps to get people really thinking. I hope some of these ideas will actually get into a real business opportunity for someone. Have a great day Jim! 🙂😺👍
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thanks, Steve. I wish some of the ideas would go further, but for virtually every team that presents, yesterday was the last day they probably will think about their idea…
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That’s too bad, some might actually do well.
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I think they would, but the devil is in the details…
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Yes, so true.
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The pandemic is definitely on all of our minds and these were all really great ideas!
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sadly, that will likely be the last time they give their ideas a moment’s thought…
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Innovation has turned up in many places during these recent months. There is a connection with Columbus, Ohio with mask sanitization where Batelle crafted such a device.
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It doesn’t surprise me that there are mask sanitation devices being made – there’s certainly a need for it…
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There will always be an opportunity…if someone like NASA gets involved then we need to pray 🙂
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🙂 maybe Space X…
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