Design Tomorrow Today
All About Conrad Challenge
A complete Introduction to the Challenge.
Conrad Challenge is....
A challenge for everyone!
Conrad Challenge is an comprehensive competition that encourage students to identify problems in collaboration, devise innovative solutions, and apply them to real-life production. STEM students, business and economic students, and even art students are all welcome to join!
5 Areas in this Challenge
Aerospace & Aviation
CyberTech & Security
Health & Nutrition
Energy & Environment
The Water Challenge
The Timeline
Here is the timeline for a year round of Conrad Challenge, starting from forming a team to the final Challenge in Houston
Your journey starts from forming a team with a number of 2-5 people. A best team should include people who know technology, business, and design.
After forming a team, the team should agree on a topic to research on. The topic should fall in the 5 categories listed above. The team should also done enough literature review and competitive analysis to ensure their project is useful and innovative.
After confirming the topic, the team should work on and complete the materials needed to be submit for the first round of the challenge.
This includes Lean Canvas, Innovation pitch, Innovation video, and a Product Website.
Note that a prototypy photo is not required but recommended.
Lean Canvas is a short list of structural questions that includes questions about the team and their product. It asks through the purpose, the innovation, and the business proposal of the product. Because of its word limit, Lean Canvas is more like an outline of the product.
Through workshops of Lean Canvas, the team could get a brief view of how their project will go.
The innovative pitch is a detailed introduction about the team's project. It includes questions about purpose, significance, technology and innovation, business and market strategy, and branding.
After completing this, the team will get an approachable project that could be use to solve real life problems.
This is a 5-minute video about all the team's project. In the video the team could share about their team story, their product, their market strategy and their brand vision ahead. It's a creative platform for everyone.
Last but not least, the team should complete a website. In this website, the team should also presents its product, like an advertisement. However, relative to videos, websites need to produce a different way to presents these information.
First round of results will be release at January. Teams that are qualified for Conrad Challenge China will have time to prepare materials until March.
Teams that qualified will need to prepare 2 additional materials: Executive Briefing Deck and Power Pitch Presentation PPT. We also recomended to prepare a presentation draft and other materials like posters.
This is a 6-page powerpoint composed of 1 cover page and 5 content page. It should briefly summarise the project in these 6 pages, including technological innovation, business and market strategy, and team forming and branding.
The team should also prepare a presentation ppt for a 8 minute long presentation. It should include all parts of their project and presents it in a visual and active way for the audiences.
Take part during the second weekend of March, in Shanghai, Conrad Challenge China is where teams will present their final project. The whole event lasts for 3 days.
In the first day, teams will check in with the committee and collect materials for Conrad Challenge China finals. Teams should also test their power pitch ppt and go through last-minute practice on this day. There is also a welcoming feast at evening, where teams could present themselves with their team flag.
Starting frm 9:00 am to 9:00 pm, all teams will need to present their project. The presentation is composed of a 8-minute presentation and a 15-minute Q&A session. Each team will have a conference room with them and only the judges.
The EXPO is the time to meet and communicate with all the other participating teams. Individuals could discuss and listen to other team's introduction, looking for collaboration.
Also, during the EXPO, there will be another round of team presentation. The committee will select teams who they think is worth a gold prize, and they will go through another round of presentation that is open to all participants to listen.
Results will be released! Teams will be awarded with Gold, Silver, and Bronze prizes. The teams who get Top 1 in their areas will be able to attend the Conrad Challange in Houston, April.
Conrad Challenge is a competition that not only requires technological innovation, but also business strategy and branding. Collaboration and innovation are both important in this competition. Time management and planning ahead are also important in creating a project. A viable project does not come from simple ideas, but from careful observations and experiments.