HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — After a month of planning, seven Marshall University groups guided by business and technology leaders presented Wednesday their projects to address some of the biggest problems facing West Virginia.
The Innovation for Impact 2017 Design for Delight Innovation Challenge was held at the Joan C. Edwards Playhouse in front of an audience of students, staff and community members.
Intuit, the company behind QuickBooks and TurboTax, sponsored the event, while Marshall’s Lewis College of Business hosted the contest.
The seven teams were responsible for addressing one of three issues: substance abuse, technology in West Virginia or education of youth. Following a two-day boot camp, the teams had a month to design, research and prepare a project. All teams were judged on their proposals, with the three final teams earning a trip to Silicon Valley.
Each team had between five and six students, at least two faculty members and an Intuit staff member known as the “Intuit Innovation Expert.”
The judges were Intuit CEO Brad Smith, actress Jennifer Garner and former Marshall and NFL football player Chad Pennington.
Smith, a Marshall alumnus and Kenova native, said the winners of the company’s CEO Leadership Awards were moved by a trip to West Virginia last year.
“They had the chance to come here last year and learn from (former Marshall) Coach Jack Lengyel about what it took to take a community, a university and an entire nation from ashes to glory,” he said.
Lengyel took over the Marshall football program following the November 1970 plane crash that killed 75 players, coaches, administrators and flight crew members.
“They got the chance to see a story that I got the chance to experience,” Smith said. “I was 6 years old when that plane crashed.”
Smith said the leaders were inspired by the trip and had the chance to see the state’s issues firsthand.
“We have come here to try to solve those problems with Silicon Valley techniques,” he said. “We have the access. Huntington knows somebody in the Silicon Valley.”
Each group was allowed five minutes to pitch their proposals, and the judges were allowed an additional five minutes to ask questions. Some groups brought physical samples of their projects to show the judges.
Garner, who was raised in Charleston, said the state needs to celebrate its talent and the next generation.
“I’m just so excited to see the wealth of talent we have her and how excited and engaged kids are by what Brad has brought to Marshall,” she said. “It makes me feel so hopeful for this state.”
University president Jerome Gilbert said it was inspiring to be in around “stars in anybody’s view.”
“I think we’re all honored and dazed to be in the presence of Brad, Jennifer, Chad, and, most specifically, these students,” he said to the audience’s approval. “There as good as any students you’ll find in any university across the nation and around the world.
Smith said the state’s top students should not have to feel like they have to leave the state to get a job.
“The reality is there’s a lot of opportunity here,” he said. “We have to bring that inspiration here.”
The three winning groups were:
— 42 Peaks, who designed a phone application to connect people to second homes for substance abuse;
— Appalachian Action, who proposed a virtual reality presentation to advocate for drug abuse awareness; and
— 7 Degrees, who presented an idea to create a subscription box service regarding science, technology, engineering and math topics.
The groups were awarded a trip to Silicon Valley, which includes visits to the corporate headquarters of Apple, Google, Facebook and Intuit.