The 2022 Business Scholars Innovation Project recently concluded with an event to honor the winning teams. The teams competed for the four main prizes which included Best Idea, Best Pitch, Best Prototype, and Best Branding. Winners were selected by the public – through online polling. Below is a complete list of the winning teams and their participants.
Since January 2022, hundreds of students in the Business Scholars program at the University of Utah’s David Eccles School of Business have been working in teams to develop products to solve real-world problems. This is an annual activity managed in partnership with the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute.
The Innovation Project took the students months to develop and complete. Teams of up to four students worked together to identify a problem they believe they can solve with some sort of innovation. They then developed unique solutions to these issues. Students were given the freedom to decide how they wanted to go about the Innovation Project – with ideas ranging from rideshare apps to housing kits for Africa.
“Getting to see everything we’d worked on for so many weeks come together was my favorite part of this project … building and seeing it turn into the final project was a really cool experience,” said Joyce Lin, one of the recipients of the Best Idea Award.
This year’s Best Idea Award went to Pintivity – an interactive app designed to make choosing activities with a group of friends a much simpler task. Through analyzing factors such as budget, time constraints, current trends, and location, the app can help diverse groups of people decide on a common activity that everyone can enjoy.
Though ideas were spread across a wide range, all the participants learned important, first-hand lessons on how valuable entrepreneurship can be in solving everyday issues. This hands-on project is unique in how it coaches students in real-life teamwork and problem-solving skills by requiring its students to work with randomized teams and thinking outside the box.
“Before this project, I didn’t think entrepreneurship was a possibility for me,” said Maria Crago, a member of the group winning Best Branding. “After going through this whole process, though, and having a great team, I learned that entrepreneurship is possible for anyone to take part in and I definitely see myself using it in the future.”
This is one of several hand-on style projects that these students participated in over the course of the school year for the Business Scholars program.
Learn more about the Business Scholars program at eccles.utah.edu/students/business-scholars/
Infinitooth
Sparkgum
EcoRyce
2022 Innovation Project Winners
Best Idea – Pintivity
- Barry Carta
- Kimberly Cuevas
- Jacob George
- Joyce Lin
Best Branding – EcoRyce
- Maria Crago
- Landon Crollard
- Jacqueline Huynh
- Abby Reeve
Best Prototype – Infinitooth
- Casey Fuller
- Benjamin Futchko
- Will Rahaniotis
Best Pitch – Sparkgum
- Zachary Blackard
- Miles Elkins
- Johnny Fullmer
