CONTEST TERMS AND PROCEDURES
Project Initiation: Requester provides Tekapult with (1) a desired topic, theme or problem; (2) task / project objective; (3) specification, parameters or other measuring criteria; (4) description of rewards; and (5) payment of Tekapult fees.
Tekapult Steps: Tekapult within 90 days or sooner after said Project Initiation prepares a dedicated website and, if applicable, utilizes its private networks, media and other means to attract the top talent in the world to accomplish the given tasks.
Requesters: A private or publicly owned company, or state / federal agencies and organizations. Requester shall cooperate with Tekapult in all promotional, entry judging, rewards and technical matters.
Fee for Requesters: Upfront $895.00 administrative charge, 10% of reward lump sum or face / contract value amount (whichever is greater) and costs (e.g., dedicated website design / operation expenses).
Private Competition: Submissions’ content will not be made public. Requester’s judging panels sign confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements barring dissemination or use of submission-disclosed information outside of the judging process or internal use.
Relationship Waiver. In view of Requester’s parallel own product development and prior art, entrants’ submissions do not create any employment, confidential or partnership relationship with Requester. Entrants waive confidentiality in their submissions and should seek advice of their patent counsel as to their intellectual property rights protection in and to their submissions.
Rewards May Include: Lump sum awards/ prizes, start-up acquisition, patent / product license or license contract to sell the product under the Requester’s brand name, and joint project development /manufacturing contracts. The Requester will not pay compensation for additional or follow-up products, whether or not arising from the entrant’s initial production license, as such new products/ models are deemed to be non-licensed and initiated by the Requester.
Cross-border Inventor Teams: Research labs/ institutes and universities, startups, students, and cross-discipline invention-on-demand teams of collaborating individuals are deemed as one entrant being represented by one individual. 1 Entry, 1 Invention.
Topics / Themes: Best solution of specified technical problems, creation of new concepts, products, or methods for goods or services being inside or outside sponsor’s core markets, or just out-of-box ideas per the identified theme.
Invention Submission Format: Video / Power Point/ Photos/ Animation presentations not to exceed 5 minutes and up to 3 standard page written presentation in PDF / English.
Submission Content: Best mode’s summary and problem’s novel/original solution description with related drawings, charts or sketches along with competitive advantages over the prior/ current art (products, techniques, etc.), concept or product uniqueness/ efficiency/ scalability/ feasibility/ key benefits and market researched mass appeal, if applicable.
Judges: Requester’s panels of production managers, research consultants, independent experts (if any), engineers, attorneys, designers and corporate planners review submissions and may conduct video conferences with contestants as to their innovations’ technical aspects. These panels choose the submissions to be utilized in or become the Requester’s products, even if the entrants do not become the contest winners, and may offer corresponding rewards.
Winners / Finalists: Selected entrants may be asked to answer questions of the judges via live video presentations. Finalists are notified by e-mail and will be featured on the Tekapult’s website. Tekapult announces the winners at an Awards Ceremony. Names and invention titles of ten (10) finalists will be published at the www.tekapult.com website, unless the entrant requests the name exclusion from such publication.
Contest Submission Schedules: Contests are conducted three (3) times a year. A submission period shall end within 120 days after the contest topic announcement date. Rolling submission deadlines: February 1, June 1, and October 1.
Eligibility: Any person older than 13 years of age (minors must be represented by their parents), students with their advisor/s, companies or research teams (considered as one entry per given topic), except the Requester’s employees (and their immediate families).
Global Resources: Engineers and scientists in the U.S., Europe and Asia develop disruptive and promising inventions and technologies that complement the Requester’s internal R&D efforts. Such cross-border topic-specific brainstorms engage thousands of experts united by common/ universal engineering, scientific and technical knowledge.
Scoring System Criteria: A Tekapult-developed standardized scoring assures a fair and objective selection process based on the submission originality, development stage, implementation simplicity, problem solution, and advantages over the existing art.
Patented* Inventions: Inventions may or may not be patented (but, if applicable, the date they were reduced to practice and revealed to the public as a commercial product or process should be stated). Serial numbers of filed U.S. utility patent applications or issued patents' numbers must be identified in the submission. Patent search results included in the submission would help to assess the submitted original, novel, non-obvious and useful product or process.
*Warning: A concept / invention submission may trigger a statutory period bar, which may preclude a U.S. patent application filing. Contestants should consult with their patent counsel prior to entering the contests.