Program Rules and Guidelines – Bosnia and Herzegovina

Table of Contents

Definition
Overview
Eligibility
Rules for Submission
Key Selection Criteria
Program Rules
What You Get Out Of Participation
Other Information
Disclosure

Definition

In these rules, “IEEE Innovation Nation”, “IEEE IN”, “we”, “our”, and “us” refer to the competition and its organizers and “you” and “yourself” refers to an eligible entrant. By entering, you agree to be bound by these Official Rules and Regulations.

Overview

The IEEE Innovation Nation is a university/industry led program that teaches you customer-centric idea development using the Design Thinking methodology and develops your business enterprise skills to operationalise your idea. Individual participants join into teams during the program and apply the knowledge gained to develop a business idea. Best teams get to pitch their idea in front of an investment panel.

The program will take place over four (4) months and individuals must register by the deadline in order to participate in the education, and be eligible for investment opportunities. You apply as an individual, but  during the course part of the program, you will form a team with other program participants. You do not need to have an idea to apply.

We are looking for passionate students & young professionals who are committed to learning how to become an innovator and entrepreneur. The program teaches you a systematic approach to developing innovative ideas that can help you become an innovative professional and an entrepreneur.

The training will comprise of four main components;

  1. Certified Formal Education led by La Trobe University, Australia: 10 week course that focuses on application of the Design Thinking process, and fundamental business concepts needed to develop a business idea. All participants who complete the full curriculum will receive a formal certificate of completion from La Trobe University, Australia.
  2. Startup library: A collection of educational materials (videos, notes, tools etc) addressing all aspects of the idea to innovation: startup life cycle, developed according to the IEEE Innovation Nation Curriculum. This content is developed by serial entrepreneurs from around the world.
  3. Coaching sessions: Coaching sessions with our startup coaches on topics important and relevant to the teams. Coaches come from 12 countries and between them have been involved in over 1 Billion USD revenue generation.
  4. Final Competition: Teams who successfully complete the education program will be invited to the final event “Innovation Nation Finals 2020” where they have opportunity to pitch their business idea to a panel of investors for varying seed capital.

During the education program, the organizer will be ejecting individuals/teams who are not actively participating in order to ensure that professional staff and startup coaches are not being unnecessarily burdened.

At the end of the training, you will graduate as an “IEEE Innovation Nation Fellow”. A digital badge usable in your social profiles (e.g., Linkedin), a transcript and a certificate will be issued as evidence of you receiving the training.

In addition to that, a total of $5000 USD will be up for grabs as prizes for the best teams of the final competition!

Eligibility

You are eligible to enter if you meet the following requirements at the time of entry:

Participants

We are looking for passionate students & young professionals who are committed to learning how to become an innovator and entrepreneur. While you may have a team in mind, you can apply as an individual. When applying as a team, all team members need to fill out individual applications and they will be reviewed separately. It can happen that not all team members are selected as program participants, so be sure to write a good application.

You will work in teams during the 10 week course. If you do not have team, please do not worry. The program helps create teams. You can work in pre-arranged teams, or form new ones with other program participants. Maximum team size will be 5 people. We strongly encourage interdisciplinarity.

Participant eligibility criteria:

  • Each participant must be a young person (18 – 30 years);
  • Primary address of residence must be in Bosnia and Herzegovina;
  • Each participant must be available for 10 hours per week to participate in the program;
  • Each participant must have basic conversational knowledge of English language;
  • Each participant must have access to a reliable internet connection and a personal computer as the education activities are online-based.

Field of Focus

You will apply the knowledge gained through the program to develop your own business idea or improve an existing one. That idea must be based on any of the broadly speaking STEM fields (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) and their subdivisions, including Chemistry, Computer and Information Science and Engineering, Engineering, Geosciences, Life Sciences, Material Research, Mathematical Sciences, Physics and Astronomy, Psychology, Social Sciences and STEM Education and Learning research.

Rules for Submission

To participate in the program, teams must fill out an application form on the  IEEE Innovation Nation website.

An entry must be timely and will be accepted only if received before the deadline. Requests for deadline extension will not be entertained under any circumstances.

Key Selection Criteria

Each entry will be analyzed and judged based upon the following criteria:

  • Motivation (50%) – What is your motivation to want to participate in the program?
  • Past Experience (30%) – What past experiences do you have that demonstrate your love for innovation, design, entrepreneurship?
  • Commitment (20%) – What makes you believe you are committed to completing the program?

Program Rules

  1. Participants must attend all weekly workshops, coaching sessions, and engage with relevant program administrators. Only medical certificates will be adequate excuses for missing some form of engagement and in this case your team must cover for you and bring you up to speed.
  2. Participants must show initiative in organizing and attending coaching sessions.
  3. Participants must complete assignments they receive.
  4. Each team is solely responsible for its own cooperation and teamwork. In no event will IEEE IN organizers officiate in any dispute regarding the conduct or cooperation of any Team or its members.
  5. During the education program, the organizer will be ejecting individuals/teams who are not actively participating in order to ensure that professional staff and startup coaches are not being unnecessarily burdened.
  6. All participants will be given access to the La Trobe University Learning Management Systems (accounts will be set up for you), as such you must adhere to the La Trobe University LMS usage policy. Any breaches result in direct program expulsion.
  7. During the program (held mostly online), the following will not be tolerated in any form:
    a) Interruptions and disruptions to teaching staff;
    b) Discrimination on the basis of nationality, ethnicity, religion, sex etc.;
    c) Cheating or unethical behaviour;
    d) Bullying, intimidation or verbal assaults
  8. All participants must adhere to the values of organising partners: IEEE, La Trobe University and Bosnia & Herzegovina Futures Foundation.
  9. We will not accept any entries that may contain any inappropriate, offensive or illegal content.

What You Get Out of Participation

  • All participants who complete the full curriculum will receive a formal signed certificate of completion from La Trobe University, Australia. This can be highly valuable in your career, looks great on your CV and can be used for further education applications.
  • At the end of the training, you will graduate as an “IEEE Innovation Nation Fellow”. Note: IEEE (www.ieee.org) is the world’s largest professional organisation and has influence in over 180 countries of the world. A digital badge usable in your social profiles (e.g., Linkedin), a transcript and a certificate will be issued as evidence of you receiving the training.
  • Education in a cutting edge innovation program that will improve your ability to innovate, design and deliver solutions. The program will make you stand out when applying for jobs and help you grow professionally.
  • Access to local and global experts and growth of professional network.
  • 10 x Industry expert lectures, 10 x workshops led by academics, 10 hours of mentoring from startup coaches.
  • The cost of the course is 5,300 BAM per student – BH Futures Foundation, IEEE and La Trobe University are jointly offering 50 scholarships to cover all associated costs.
  • A total of 10,000 BAM (will be up for grabs as exclusive prizes for the best teams in the final competition.
  • Additional capital investment will be available through program partners but will not exceed 20,000 BAM per team (based on maturity of business idea).

Other Information

You are responsible to check the website and social media pages for any amendments to this original document as we will make announcements through those platforms. Changes, if made, will be clearly visible across versions of this document.

Disclosure

By participating in this program, you retain the individual right to your intellectual property (IP) and derivatives, but you grant us your royalty-free, irrevocable permission to,

  • Share application content only with the permitted third parties including the Judges and Mentors, solely on the purpose to review, analyze, test and judge your content along the Judging Criteria mentioned and, to provide guidance and mentorship corresponding to the content of your entry; and
  • Feature business ideas of selected elite teams and any content related to it, in providing exposure to the participants’ work and in the promotion of the competition in any forms, including, but not limited to, photographs and presentations via media. We will be sending any content we plan to publish related to your entry prior to publishing. You may request changes or reject publishing of the content as you may desire.

Please note that we are not claiming any ownership of your business idea, other than what was stated above and we will not be obligated to provide you with any compensation for the use of your application or business idea in the manner that has been already described.