Cornell Cup USA

The Cornell Cup is an annual college-level embedded design competition created by Cornell Systems Engineering and hosted by Cornell University. The competition was an initiative originally created by Cornell University and Intel, and now partnered with arm to "empower student teams to become the inventors of the newest innovative applications of embedded technology". The competition is designed to allow college students the opportunity to transform ideas into real products with actual results. Various awards are given with a range of prizes between $1,000 and $10,000.
History.
The competition was announced in late 2011 by Intel as a way of finding and encouraging college students to develop ideas and transform them into robust products. The competition is built based on the highly successful Intel Cup China that attracts over 26,000 students annually.
Qualification.
To qualify for the application stage, a team must be formed with the following requirements:
Competition summary.
The competition involves two stages: an applications stage and a finalists stage.
Applications Stage.
The application stage typically takes place in the months the previous year of the competition. Teams must complete an application which includes a team interest form, a competition integrity form, and a 7 application questions form by the designated deadline. Applications are reviewed by the Cornell review team which in turn selects up to 35 of the top application submissions. The selected team can then participate in the final competition.
Finalists Support.
Finalists are given an array of support as they work through their plan.
Finalists Stage.
The top application submissions that have been chosen have roughly half a year to make their project come to fruition. The teams are responsible for following through their application. A final report is required to be submitted by the deadline. The competition holds an all-day public expo during May where judges hear a six-minutes pitch, asking questions, examining posters, and checking out the demos. Each team undergoes a more in-depth, private review process.
During the final day of the expo, the winners are announced and awarded first, second, or third place in various categories. Various other sponsors may potentially offer special awards to various teams in addition to these awards. The expo takes place at Walt Disney World in May.
Awards.
During the expo a number of awards will be given away in addition to the grand prize award.
Cornell Cup USA, presented by Intel Grand Prizes.
The top 3 highest total score winners will be awarded first, second, and third Cornell Cup USA, presented by Intel Grand Prizes respectively. Winners are typically announced during the final day of the expo.
The grand prize winner will receive $10,000. Second place team will receive $5,000. Third place team will receive $2,500.
People's Choice Award.
During the Cornell Cup Expo, all competition participants will be able to have a single vote for their choice of team. These votes will determine the winning team. People's Choice Award will go to the team receiving the most participants' votes but did not win one of the 3 grand prizes.
Wild Card Award.
Teams that have successfully submitted an application, but were not chosen as finalists are allowed to submit a final report. Their final report must follow the same rules and guidelines as the finalists. The Wild Card Award is given to a team who were deemed strong enough by the review judges.
Media Award.
Each of the finalist team must create an On-line Chronicle blog using the template provided by the competition. They must also generate social network and media buzz by publishing updates on various channels. The Media Award are judged by members of the media, which is based on team blogs, online channels, and their presentation at the expo.
The top two teams will receive $1,000 awards.
Entrepreneurship Award.
In 2014 the competition added a new award, the Entrepreneurship Award, where teams can create a business plan around their Cornell Cup project which could be pitched to venture capitalists. The award was created due to a great interest by past teams that wanted to turn their creative competition inventions into entrepreneurial opportunities after the Cup's final expo.
The winner of the Entrepreneurship Award will receive $2,500.
Past Winners.
Cornell Cup 2014.
The 3rd annual award was held on May, 2014.
Cornell Cup 2015.
The Cornell Cup 2015 winners will be announced on May 3, 2015.