The Collegiate Inventors Competition is a national competition that recognizes and rewards innovations, discoveries and research by college and university students and their faculty advisors.
Whatever the invention is, it must be a reduced-to-practice idea or workable model. If it is a machine, it must be operable. If it is a chemical, it must be complete with evidence of successful application of the idea. If a new or original ornamental design for an article of manufacture, the entire design must be included in the application. In addition, the invention must be reproducible. You must establish that your idea is novel and not obvious. The entry must be the original idea and work product of the student/advisor team, and must not have been (1) made available to the public as a commercial product or process or (2) been patented or published more than 1 year prior to the date of submission to the competition.