innovationUTAH.com
Linking Utah's Innovation Community
Outdoor Recreation Industry
The Northern Utah Tech Outreach office is supporting the efforts of the City of Ogden to become the leading place for outdoor recreation industry businesses to locate their operations. One aspect of that effort is the work, in conjunction with Grow Utah Ventures, in the Concept to Company contest, which aims to attract new product ideas and new companies to Ogden’s burgeoning outdoor recreation business environment. Concept to Company may be the first competition in the nation to focus on spurring innovation in the outdoor recreation products industry.
In the inaugural edition of the annual contest, organizers received over 120 submissions representing intriguing innovations in a wide range of outdoor sports.
The contest is open to any inventor or small business with a product or service idea that applies to outdoor recreation. Ideas should focus on skiing, snowboarding, cycling, climbing, hiking, paddling, and other non-motorized, non-fishing or non-hunting sports. The idea or invention must not yet be introduced into the market and must have no sales revenue.
A panel of outdoor industry experts evaluate ideas based on innovation and marketability. In the in-state track, the winning entry receives a $20,000 award, comprised of cash and the equivalent value in consulting or prototyping services to help bring the idea to fruition. Two runner-up winners receive $10,000 awards, comprised of cash and services.
In the out-of-state track, there is a single award of $20,000 in cash and services. The contest is open to individual inventors or to innovative small businesses with less than $5 million in annual revenues.
“Contest winners will get a lot of attention from the outdoor recreation industry, and that could lead to increased opportunities in licensing or in the actual launch of some new businesses which is our ultimate goal,” T. Craig Bott, president of Grow Utah Ventures, said.
The Concept to Company contest may be unique. “There are a number of product innovation contests around the country, but to the best of our knowledge, this is the first and only one to foster new ideas in outdoor recreation,” Curt Roberts, USTAR Northern Utah Regional Technology Outreach Director, said. “We look forward to working with the winners to help them turn their concept into sales revenue, or better yet, into a company.”
To find out more about the Northern Utah team please click here.