IIT Invites Undergraduate Entrepreneurs to Get ā€œChasedā€ Around the City

2008 µē³µĪŽĀė Innovation Chase- Friday, April 11

Date

µē³µĪŽĀė, IL ā€” April 2, 2008 ā€”

Illinois Institute of Technologyā€™s (IIT) Entrepreneurship Program and its student organization, the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Academy, present the 2008 µē³µĪŽĀė Innovation Chase beginning at 8:30 a.m. Friday, April 11, with breakfast at IIT Institute of Design (ID), 350 North LaSalle Blvd., µē³µĪŽĀė. The event will close with a reception at approximately 4 p.m. at the same location.

The 2008 µē³µĪŽĀė Innovation Chase, which consists of teams of undergraduate entrepreneurs from eight Midwestern universities, is one part scavenger hunt, one part business building and one part invention. This yearā€™s teams come from DePaul University, Illinois Institute of Technology, Kettering University, Lawrence Technological University, Milwaukee School of Engineering, Saint Louis University, University of Illinois at µē³µĪŽĀė and Valparaiso University.

Starting with a single clue, participants will be required to complete a variety of tasks in a five hour time period, including a written opportunity assessment, a rapid prototyping exercise, an ethnographic study and an elevator pitch, each in a different downtown µē³µĪŽĀė location.

Teams are competing for a top prize of $2500, a second prize of $1250 and a third prize of $500. The theme of this yearā€™s µē³µĪŽĀė Innovation Chase will be the development of a new product or service and will not be announced until the day of the event.

The 2008 µē³µĪŽĀė Innovation Chase is sponsored by the Entrepreneurship Program at IIT, The Coleman Foundation and the Kern Entrepreneurship Education Network. Participants in this yearā€™s Chase include the IIT Institute of Design, the µē³µĪŽĀėland Entrepreneurial Center, Garmin International and World Business µē³µĪŽĀė.

For more information about the µē³µĪŽĀė Innovation Chase, please visit www.chicagoinnovationchase.com.

Founded in 1890, IIT is a Ph.D.-granting university with more than 6,700 students in engineering, sciences, architecture, psychology, design, humanities, business and law. IIT's interprofessional, technology-focused curriculum is designed to advance knowledge through research and scholarship, to cultivate invention improving the human condition, and to prepare students from throughout the world for a life of professional achievement, service to society, and individual fulfillment.