Last updated: 01 December 2014
First things first: we’re going to extend the deadline for our IoTMaker challenge to the end of November 2014. We’ve had some great entries to date, from automated swear jars to connected fire extinguishers through to ‘Fitbit cow trackers,’ and we’re keen to keep the creative juices flowing for a little while longer. Even with the revised completion date, we have enough time to help the winner(s) turn their concepts into workable prototypes ahead of MWC 2015, so it’s well worth a tweet for the chance to make your idea into reality.
As to judging criteria: it’s tricky to assess the best from the rest, particularly given the diversity of the #IoTMaker submissions we’ve been getting. How do you judge apples against pears? Ultimately the assessment of what’s ‘best’ will be somewhat subjective, but to give some structure to our assessment criteria, we thought the following might be helpful:
- Viability – is this buildable? Of course this is an important criterion for us, as we want to develop a demo of it with you, ideally using our concept board, to show off at MWC 2015.
- Creativity – is it a clever way of solving the problem? Is it what mathematicians and physicists might call an ‘elegant solution’?
- Real-world value – is it a problem that needs to be solved? This is hard to assess as, in a big world with a diverse problem set varying by geography, culture, social class, job role and more, one man’s value is another man’s nonsense. So we’re not going to use ‘commercial potential’ as a criterion, but try to give ‘value’ in the broader sense some consideration.
- Originality – is it very similar to something that’s already out there? On my return from paternity leave I considered that an automated M2M connected nappy might be just the trick for me, only to be told there are variations on the theme already on the market!
There’ll be some gut instinct in there, and we’re still keen on experts to contribute to both the ideation and the adjudication aspects of the challenge, so let us know if you’d like to be involved in the comments section below or on email at IoTMaker@gemalto.com. Do get in touch if you think there’s anything else we should bear in mind when the IoTMaker judging day comes around.
Update: The entry window for the IoT Maker challenge has now closed, stay tuned to the blog for more information.
