The Seeker of this Challenge, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, is looking for an efficient, low cost and low maintenance real-time sensor to monitor sewer overflows in urban areas, such as Greater Cincinnati.
This Challenge is being offered in partnership with a regional innovation competition called Cincinnati Innovates, and with the technical help of Cincinnati Metropolitan Sewer District and Sanitation District No.1 of Northern Kentucky. The Winner(s) of this Challenge will be announced by Cincinnati Innovates.
For additional background and helpful tips, please view this Seeker Spotlight blog post.
This is an Ideation Challenge with a guaranteed award for at least one submitted solution.
A key to reducing sewer overflows in urban areas is the ability to effectively collect real-time information from these locations. The lack of cost-effective technologies to monitor such overflows often makes data collection efforts in these areas inefficient and ineffective.
The Seeker of this Challenge, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (in partnership with Cincinnati Innovates, and with the technical help of Cincinnati Metropolitan Sewer District and Sanitation District No.1 of Northern Kentucky), is therefore looking for a design of an efficient, low cost and low maintenance real-time sensor to monitor sewer overflows and provide characterization of wet-weather impacts on urban sewers.
This is an Ideation Challenge, which has the following unique features:
- There is a guaranteed award. The awards will be paid to the best submission(s) as solely determined by the Seeker. The total payout will be up to $10,000, with at least one award being no smaller than $5,000 and no award being smaller than $2,000.
- The Solvers are not required to transfer exclusive intellectual property rights to the Seeker. Rather, by submitting a proposal, the Solvers grant to the Seeker a royalty-free, perpetual, and non-exclusive license to use any information included in this proposal.
After the Challenge deadline, the Seeker will complete the review process and make a decision with regards to the Winning Solution(s).All Solvers that submitted a proposal will be notified on the status of their submissions; however, no detailed evaluation of individual submissions will be provided.
InnoCentive is the global innovation marketplace where creative minds solve some of the world's most important problems for cash awards up to $1 million. Commercial, governmental and humanitarian organizations engage with InnoCentive to solve problems that can impact humankind in areas ranging from the environment to medical advancements.
What is an InnoCentive Ideation™ Challenge?
An InnoCentive Ideation™ Challenge is a broad question formulated to obtain access to new ideas, similar to a global brainstorm for producing a breakthrough idea or market survey which may include ideas for a new product line, a new commercial application for a current product, or even a viral marketing idea to recruit new customers. Ideation™ Challenge submissions are typically about two written pages, and Seekers receive a non-exclusive, perpetual license to use all submissions.
In an Ideation™ Challenge, Solvers may:
- Submit ideas of their own
- Submit third party information that they have the right to use and further the authority to convey that right and the right to use and develop derivative works to Seekers
- Submit information considered in the public domain without any limitations on use
Solvers should not reveal any confidential information in their submissions. Often the Ideation™ Challenge will be followed by one or more of the other three Challenge types to further develop the ideas and gain Intellectual Property protection when the concept has been well-defined.
