The Cade Museum for Creativity + Invention invites applications for 5thAnnual $50,000 Cade Museum Prize competition. The Cade Museum Prize, open to all Florida residents and Florida-based companies, rewards innovation and invention from entrepreneurs, innovators and inventors. The Cade Museum Prize awards both cash and in-kind incentives to academics, entrepreneurs and proof-of-concept or early-stage companies for advancing creative ideas into the marketplace. Judges will look at how creative and innovative the idea is, what demonstrable impact the invention will make, and how far away the invention is from being a commercially viable product or service.
The following are important dates in the award process:
December 1 – January 31
Applicants submit entries of 500 words or less online at cademuseumprize.org.
Deadline: 1/31/14
March 11
Sweet 16 semi-finalists announced, and are asked to submit full business plans.
April 8
Final 4 teams are announced.
May 8
Final 4 teams make pitches to a panel of judges and an enthusiastic audience at The Cade Museum Prize Night in Gainesville. The winner is announced onstage.
The Cade Prize, funded by the Community Foundation of North Central Florida, has drawn hundreds of entries from around Florida each year since its inception in 2010, providing an excellent cross-section of the state’s researchers, entrepreneurs, and creative-thinkers. The 2013 winning company, Nanophotonica, delivers a next-generation S-QLED display panel that is 60 percent less expensive and uses 50 percent less power than current flat panel display screens. Past winners have included an innovative way to match students worldwide with high-quality tutors based on learning style; an improved biodegradable plastic that breaks down under natural conditions in less than 10 years; and a revolutionary sound-monitoring technology that uses catheters in common procedures such as labor and delivery and cardiac operations.