HES-SO Innovation Prize Concept 2017

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Lee Davidson
5 years ago
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HES-SO Innovation Prize Concept 2017 BACKGROUND Promoting students inventiveness, collaborative spirit and entrepreneurship rank among the prime objectives of HES-SO training courses.

Courses at the HES, especially at Master s level, seek particularly to promote innovation within the economic, social and artistic fabric of western Switzerland.

1 HES-SO Innovation Prize Concept 2017 BACKGROUND Promoting students inventiveness, collaborative spirit and entrepreneurship rank among the prime objectives of HES-SO training courses. The aim is to instil both new expertise and the practical and concrete experience students will need to succeed in their present or future working environments. Courses at the HES, especially at Master s level, seek particularly to promote innovation within the economic, social and artistic fabric of western Switzerland. Applied research and taught courses are closely interlocked and new ideas emerge at the interface between the two. It can sometimes be difficult to implement some of these ideas due to a lack of visibility and support. How can we give these potentially very attractive ideas an opportunity and the visibility and publicity they deserve to find a fertile ground in which to develop? A number of disciplines and higher education institutions, along with private partners, reward HES-SO students for their final projects with prizes and other forms of recognition. If we look closely at these awards and support measures, we can see that they tend to combine funding along with opportunities for coaching, mentoring and making contacts. The most interesting measures also include enabling the project to be hosted within an incubator or accelerator, with a view to nurturing a start-up company. The HES-SO Innovation Prize draws its inspiration from these experiences and seeks to reward innovation in the broader sense, as it also includes the creation of a variety of new services not limited to purely technological innovation. The innovative capacities of HES-SO students and staff are recognised at the local and national levels. Measures to support and encourage innovation in western Switzerland as a whole are designed to boost the HES-SO s image as a key player in this area, and to recognise the value of entrepreneurship and the original, innovative ideas of HES-SO students. Schedule Selection of a jury May 2017 Registration deadline for students 25 August 2017 Pre-selection of nominees by the jury September 2017 Selection by the jury October 2017 Award of prize and publication of the results January

2 CONCEPT The HES-SO Innovation Prize must serve to strengthen pre-existing links between higher education and the key players in the economic, cultural and social development of the cantons concerned. For this purpose, the jury will comprise professionals working in these different fields of innovation, thereby boosting the visibility of the submitted projects to these partners on the ground. Jury members will therefore be able to identify the most promising projects from the list of applications for the award and those which may be eligible for other forms of support. After assessment on the basis of applications and interviews, the jury will then select the two projects to be submitted to the Rectorate to receive the prizes. After a call for projects, the award recognises the two projects judged to be the most original, innovative and suitable for practical implementation in this region, whether as a company, an initiative within an institution, or any other type of innovation that results in added value for society as a whole. It favours multidisciplinary projects submitted by teams of students. Details of the prize Each of the two prizes rewards either a single student or a group of students. First prize: CHF 20,000 Second prize: CHF 15,000 The sums received must be invested in implementing the proposed project. Prizes are awarded annually. The jury is made up of innovation experts from outside the HES-SO. Form of the project Given that innovation is to be found both in an idea and in the way its implementation is expressed, the proposed projects do not have to adhere to any predefined form. Projects must firstly be submitted in the form of an application following the template available on the HES-SO website. Then, on selection day, a maximum of six projects selected on the strength of the applications will be presented orally to the jury by the teams responsible for the projects. Participation conditions Projects may only be submitted by students registered at the HES-SO and following Master s level courses. Projects must list all students involved in completing them, and the name of a teacher supporting their application. There is no age limit. 2

3 ASSESSMENT Assessment criteria The following criteria must be followed in assessing the project and should also figure in the application form: Originality: does the project describe the latest developments in western Switzerland, and the contribution it will make in terms of innovation within this context? Interdisciplinarity: does the project combine different fields of skill available within the six disciplines of the HES-SO? (Potential) impact: what technological, societal and artistic impact is expected and which indicators will be used to measure this impact? Ethics: what ethical considerations are linked to your project and how are they defined? Viability: does the project call on the right skills, networks and resources to be feasible and achieve the planned impacts? Use: what activities needed to complete the project would the prize support? Selection process The process comprises three stages: 1. Pre-selection of a maximum of six projects from the applications. 2. Interviews with the applicants, to select the two best projects. 3. Validation of the awards by the Rectorate. The pre-selected projects will receive coaching to prepare for the interviews and presentation to the public. The two award-winning projects shall undertake to present, after a period of two years, the outcomes of their projects subsequent to the award of the HES-SO Innovation Prize. All eligible projects will receive feedback with comments by the jury. Jury The jury shall comprise representatives of agencies that provide support and assistance for innovation in western Switzerland. It shall be chaired by the Vice-Rector for Research and Innovation at the HES-SO, whose services shall provide the secretariat. Nonetheless, the Vice-Rector for Research and Innovation shall only serve in an advisory capacity. On the day of the interviews, a representative from the Rectorate s communication service shall attend in an exclusively advisory capacity. The members of the jury shall be appointed by the Rectorate, which shall ensure as broad a representation as possible on the jury of the different disciplines and cantons/regions. Its task will be to select the six best applications and invite them to interview, in the course of which the jury will select the two best projects. These two projects will then be submitted to the HES-SO Rectorate for the decision to award the prize. 3

4 Decision to grant the award The decision to grant the award shall be taken by the HES-SO Rectorate. Awarding of the prize Once the assessment has been made, all finalists shall be invited to the Prize award ceremony, which is a highlight of the HES-SO calendar. Publication Follow-up Trophies The two prizes shall be awarded by the Rector of the HES-SO. The two winners shall be announced on social networks and on the website, in the Hémisphères journal, and during the Prize award ceremony, which is a highlight of the HES- SO calendar. The two prize-winners shall be invited to come back two years later and report back on their project and what this prize allowed them to achieve. They shall present what they have achieved to the Rectorate during the awards ceremony for this very prize, two years later. The prize-winners may also be called upon to help promote the next edition of the Innovation Prize. The trophies awarded to the first and second prize-winners shall be designed by a higher education institution specialising in design and the visual arts. PROMOTION HES-SO intranet and website The concept of the Innovation Prize 2017 is available on the HES-SO website. It contains the following items: Description Schedule Participation conditions Application form For further information: innovation@hes-so.ch The HES-SO will publish regular updates on the Innovation Prize as the key dates in the calendar are reached (call for projects, publication of the nominees, publication of the winners). 4

5 Participation of the teaching staff The involvement of the teaching staff in promoting the Innovation Prize is an important factor in raising its profile. The staff teaching Master's courses shall inform their students of the chance to take part in this prize. Teachers are kept informed by communications from the HES-SO. Social networks The results of the Innovation Prize shall also be posted on social networks to draw the attention of both students and external partners (Facebook, LinkedIn). Hémisphères journal The winners shall be presented in the Hémisphères journal. Briefing sessions The competition shall be presented briefly during Master's briefing sessions. Delémont, 2 May 2017/PFU/MTE/ACH

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