Overview of the Competition
The Accenture Innovation Competition is an exciting opportunity for innovative thinkers from all over the world to come together and compete for an array of prizes and recognition. The competition is open to both individuals and teams and is designed to provide an engaging, interactive experience for all participants. With a strong focus on innovation, the competition seeks to identify new and creative solutions from participants to solve real-world challenges.
In this article, we’ll take a look at the competition overview, judging criteria, and the prizes awaiting the winners:
- Competition Overview
- Judging Criteria
- Prizes
What is the Accenture Innovation Competition?
The Accenture Innovation Competition is an international competition that seeks out the most innovative ideas from students and recent graduates around the globe. This competition covers a wide range of topics such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing, data analysis, energy solutions, and innovative manufacturing technologies.
Contestants generate their own projects and submit a proposal along with an accompanying video pitch to be judged by Accenture’s panel of experts. The top three submissions are then awarded three distinct prizes: recognition for excellence in innovation, potential funding for continued development of their project, or access to Accenture’s global network of market-leading businesses and partners. Ultimately, the goal is to support contestants in continuing the development of their exciting project ideas and achieve maximum societal impact.
To qualify for entry into the competition, participants must:
- be undergraduate or graduate students between 18 – 29 years old;
- either be enrolled in school or have graduated within three years;
- work on a team of two members or more; and
- not yet have received any external venture capital investment before submission.
At its core, this competition aims to identify talented innovators eager to use technology solutions to solve practical challenges facing industries ranging from healthcare to hospitality. Through this search process they aspire to spur creative problem-solving among young people while offering contestants transformative paths towards making real-world changes through their innovations.
Are you ready to become one of these change makers? We invite you to join us today!
Who is eligible to participate?
The Accenture Innovation Competition is an opportunity for students around the world to create a pioneering digital product or service and have their idea come to life. Students must be enrolled in an accredited college or university of any age and any discipline – any student who has an interest in technology, with a passion for creating innovative solutions is welcome.
The competition is open to all individuals who are registered as full-time students at a college/university, including undergraduates, postgraduates, PhDs and masters students. While traditional academic qualifications are not essential for entering this competition, students must demonstrate knowledge of relevant areas studied at college/university (business management/strategy; user experience design; software engineering; product design etc).
In order to be eligible to enter the Accenture Innovation Competition, you must meet one of the following criteria:
- Be currently enrolled as a full-time student in an accredited degree program
- Have graduated in within two years (24 months) prior to submission deadline
- Be currently enrolled in an entrepreneurial program associated with industry professionals
Moreover, companies and teams that have already raised money from institutional investors before the entry deadline are not eligible. Judges reserve the right to disqualify anyone they deem ineligible or unsuitable.
What are the prizes?
Accenture Innovation Challenge is offering a range of prizes for the best and the brightest entrants. These prizes will be awarded for original ideas that have potential to transform societies, create new business opportunities, or solve some of the toughest global challenges. The top three winners will receive money prizes ranging from $2,000 to $5,000.
In addition to money prizes, 10 finalists will be flown to Accenture’s headquarters in France for a two-week program that includes challenges and workshops with Accenture mentors. All finalists will also have access to Special Awards such as mentorship from Accenture professionals and the chance to collaborate on ideas with teams from all over the world.
The competition is open worldwide and teams may come from any accredited university or college in any country and study discipline. All individual participants must be at least 18 years old at the time of entry into the competition.
Accenture Innovation Challenge is also offering Regional Awards as part of its initiative; these awards are tailored toward specific geographic areas determined by Accenture’s regional offices throughout Europe, Middle East Africa (EMEA), Asia Pacific (APAC) and Latin America & Caribbean (LAC). Each team must submit its entry form no later than June 15th 2019 at 11:59 pm CET/10:59 pm UTC/7:59 pm EDT in order to qualify for participation in this challenge.
Don’t miss this incredible opportunity – start developing your idea today!
How to Participate
Are you ready to take the challenge and prove your skills? The Accenture Innovation Competition is the perfect opportunity for aspiring young minds to showcase their creativity and ingenuity. With challenges covering topics such as artificial intelligence, sustainable impact and culture transformation, the competition is sure to bring out the best and the brightest minds from around the world.
So, if you think you have what it takes to make an impact, here’s how you can participate in the competition:
Create a team
Building a strong and capable team is ideally the starting point when considering entering the competition. Since Innovation competitions attract projects from all disciplines, it is important to ensure that those who join the team bring key skill sets and competencies that complement one another.
It is recommended that teams have three to five members. Look for ideas people, players with expertise in user experience, engineering, communication and creativity – everyone bringing something different together to identify gaps and opportunities for potential solutions.
Other things to consider when creating a team:
- Scouting out like-minded individuals with a range of qualities (talents such as coding languages, video production skills or marketing knowledge).
- Assigning roles and responsibilities from day one so all members are held accountable.
- Searching outside the traditional networks – look for participants from different universities or countries!
- Team backgrounds should be diverse in order to bring multiple views and experiences that may help fuel innovation success stories.
- Connect with alumna/alumni groups, edtech startup groups or online communities as an opportunity to find new players for your team!
Develop an innovative solution
The Accenture Innovation Competition is looking for participants from all corners of the globe who can develop a solution to a challenge or propose solutions that could provide positive impact to the business sector and wider society. To join the competition, you will be required to provide an innovative solution to a challenge based on specific criteria as determined by Accenture.
In developing your proposed solution, it is important that you leverage concepts offered by practical fields such as artificial intelligence (AI), robotics and machine learning (ML), data science, digital media and the Internet of Things (IoT). The competition enables participants to work together in teams or individually while developing their proof of concept solutions which will later on be presented via our judging panel.
In addition to submitting your proposed solutions, participants will also be required to showcase their skills through multimedia presentations as well as share their ideas in an organized fashion. Moreover, there are other activities such as:
- Roundtable discussions
- Workshops
which may be held at various stages during the competition for participating teams/individuals. Ultimately, teams and individuals with the most innovative solutions will receive awards upon successful completion of each stage of this challenging contest.
Submit your entry
Are you looking for a way to showcase your talents and gain recognition for innovative ideas? By participating in the Accenture Innovation Competition, you can turn your creativity into rewards and recognition.
The competition is open to all levels of expertise from university students to established entrepreneurs. With a pool of inspiring participants and unrestricted access to resources, like mentors, industry advice and workshops, this is the perfect opportunity to make a name for yourself in the business world.
Submitting your entry is easy. All it takes is one great idea that could create tangible impact on people’s lives or improve the way they work or interact with technology. You will be asked to share a few details about yourself in order to identify themes your idea can address and provide evidence of concept feasibility (for example check out related articles or studies).
Once you have submitted your entry form, screenshots and/or working protoypes must be sent as attachments alongside a description of what makes this idea unique – formulating success criteria with confirmed milestones will be taken into consideration too. Submissions are accepted until mid-March 2021 so don’t miss this amazing opportunity!
Judging Criteria
The Accenture Innovation Competition seeks to recognize the best and the brightest who have an innovative idea or product. In order to receive the award, these applicants must meet a set of criteria that judges will be looking for. These criteria include:
- A thorough understanding of the product.
- A complete business plan.
- A marketable product.
- A strong team to back it.
Let’s go in-depth on the judging criteria and how to make the best impression.
Creativity and originality
Successful entries to the Accenture Innovation Competition will demonstrate creativity and originality. The goal is to promote business-driven innovation in evidence-based approaches through creative means that strengthen, support, compliment or advance a field.
The judging criteria are based on the following standards:
- Innovation: Demonstrates a fresh thinking approach and/or deploys of new technologies that add value and solve real-world challenges.
- Relevance: Provides economically feasible solutions for relevant problems/ needs.
- Impact: Potential for business impact or improvement of customer experiences in an affordable manner.
- Viability: Probable success if deployed commercially at scale (e.g., efficacy, scalability, cost effectiveness).
- Presentation Clarity: Clarity of communication by presenting ideas effectively with visual aids or storytelling tools such as demo videos, animations, podcasts and other visual aids, simplifying complex concepts for nontechnical audiences.
Technical feasibility
The technical feasibility criterion assesses how realistic and viable the proposed solution is from a technological standpoint. The judges are looking to see if the solution – particularly any hardware element – is capable of being built, how difficult it would be to develop, and what improvements need to be made in order for it to achieve a successful market entry. Particular emphasis will be placed on the utilisation of advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, internet-of-things (IoT) systems and edge computing.
When evaluating an entry’s technical feasibility, the judges will consider:
- Complexity of technology used (e.g. data storage/processing requirements)
- Feasibility of roadmap to commercialisation
- Performance metrics (i.e., uptime/downtime or response time)
- Security level required (will users require authentication?)
- Ease of installation & maintenance
- Ability to scale up or down quickly & easily
Potential impact
The potential impact of an innovation is a critical element in judging, since the Accenture Innovation Competition seeks ideas that can have widespread, lasting effects. Judges will consider the value and relevance of the innovation, any specific investments or efforts needed to scale it to a global audience, and its sustainability over the long term.
Contenders should be able to clearly articulate how their programs are expected to benefit end users – such as job creation, better service delivery, more efficient services, etc.. The applicants’ ability to advise on potential challenges that may stand in the way of their innovations reaching scale will also be considered as part of this criteria.
Benefits of Participation
Participating in the Accenture Innovation Competition can be a great way to take your skills to the next level as well as gain recognition in the industry. This can be your chance to showcase your talents and create something innovative that stands out from the crowd. As a participant, you will have access to a range of resources and support to help you in your journey.
Let’s take a look at some of the benefits of participating in the competition:
Network with industry professionals
Participating in this competition will afford you the opportunity to network and build relationships with industry professionals. During the competition, you will engage in meetings with experts from Accenture and its innovation partners. This is a great opportunity to broaden your professional contact list, explore partnerships for new business opportunities, and cultivate relationships for collaboration and mentorship.
The strong ties you build in the course of this competition can help propel your career forward after the event is over. You may even find that these relationships continue long after the competition comes to an end.
Gain exposure to potential investors
Participating in the Accenture Innovation Competition can provide your team with an invaluable opportunity to connect with potential investors and mentors. Presenting your work, pitching your business model, and discussing your vision allows you to showcase your team’s capabilities and innovative solutions to those searching for investment opportunities in the world of corporate innovation.
By gaining exposure to the networks of experienced Accenture professionals and those of our partners, you are opening yourselves up to potential investors who can provide valuable seed money and knowledge, giving you a leg up on the competition. As Accenture works with corporations looking for innovative solutions, it can also introduce you directly to these contacts – creating a unique opportunity for long-term partnership.
Receive mentorship and coaching
Participants in the Accenture Innovation Competition stand to gain invaluable knowledge and experience in addition to a cash prize. Through the program, participants receive mentorship from leading industry professionals who can provide a deeper understanding of the competitive landscape and best practices for innovation. Coaching from experts will also help challenge participants’ ideas, enabling them to refine their solutions and anticipate potential points of failure.
By receiving feedback from experienced individuals in the field, participants will not only learn more about their projects but also about themselves, gaining:
- Self confidence
- And other important skills along the way.
Resources
The Accenture Innovation Competition seeks the best and the brightest creative minds in all fields of study to come together to come up with innovative solutions. As part of this competition, participants can find valuable resources to help them develop their ideas and present them in the most effective way possible. Resources such as ebooks, webinars, and videos can provide participants with the tools they need to excel.
In this section, we will take a look at the resources available to all participants:
Rules and regulations
This Innovation Competition is governed exclusively by the laws and regulations of the State of Ireland, excluding any rules of private international law and/or conflict of law which would lead to the application of any other laws. Participants agree to abide by all applicable Irish regulations, including those applicable to anti-competitive conduct and false advertising.
When submitting an entry or participating in this competition, participants must comply with all rules as described here. The following rules are applicable:
- Entries must be submitted no later than the deadline stated in official communication from Accenture.
- All supporting documentation for an entry must be provided at the time of submission, as required by Accenture.
- Eligibility requirements can be found on the Accenture website and in our FAQs to ensure applicants are members in good standing with Accenture or one of its affiliates at the time they submit their entry.
- Decisions made by Accenture’s team will be final; no appeals will be entertained on any matters related to this Innovation Competition or its outcome.
- Any entry deemed inappropriate or not meeting competition criteria will be disqualified without notification and without refunding any registration fees paid, if applicable).
- All entries become property of Accenture; entries may later be used as part of marketing campaigns or featured in press releases or on websites managed by Accenture or its affiliates without further compensation being paid to entrants for such use.
FAQs
The Accenture Innovation Competition seeks to cultivate the best and brightest in business ideas. Our competition platform encourages innovation and rewards creative projects that meet a range of criteria, including complexity, uniqueness, sustainability and practicality. We invite applicants from anywhere in the world to submit their inspiring innovations and be at the forefront of Accenture’s efforts to advance technological progress.
FAQs:
- Q: Who is eligible to participate?
A: The Accenture Innovation Competition is open to any individual or team with an innovative idea or project that meets our entry criteria. Teams should be composed of 3-5 members who will work together to develop their project and defend it on the Competition Day. - Q: What types of innovations are accepted?
A: We are looking for solutions across five main categories – Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, Internet of Things (IoT), Augmented Reality (AR) & Virtual Reality (VR). Innovations should fit one or more categories from the list above but can also fall into other topics such as 5G technology or healthcare technology solutions. Projects should have potential business application for customers or society in general, as well as establishing new ways for people to interact with one another and technology. - Q: What is the deadline for submission?
A: The deadline for all applications is 15 June 2020. All applications will be reviewed by a panel of experts who will select ten finalists whose projects will face off against one another during the Competition Day event on 30 July 2020 in Vienna Austria.
Contact information
If you have any questions or need assistance related to the Accenture Innovation Competition, please contact us at the following coordinates:
- Accenture Innovation Competition Contact:
- E-mail: participants@accenture.com
- Phone: 909-123-4567
- Mailing Address: Accenture, Innovation Competition Program, 1301 N Lackland Ave, Houston TX 66666.
Your questions will be answered in a timely manner and in full compliance with competition rules and regulations.