[Singapore, 2 May 2013 (Thursday)] – The Singapore Management University (SMU) today announced the top three winners of the inaugural Youth Innovation Challenge 2013, a competition which serves as a platform for innovators of tomorrow to showcase their entrepreneurial talents and business plans, as well as to widen their network of contacts and fellow participants who are like-minded and creative.

Youth Innovation Challenge 2013 is organised and designed by the Institute of Innovation & Entrepreneurship at SMU (IIE) as a means of encouraging an innovation mindset among students from secondary schools and junior colleges.  The Ministry of Education (MOE) was consulted on the format and the content of the competition. This annual contest is open to all secondary schools and junior colleges in Singapore.

The inaugural edition of Youth Innovation Challenge was launched on 31 October 2012.  The launch event was officiated by Ms Liew Wei Li, MOE’s Director of Student Development Curriculum.  Thirty-three entries were received from 10 schools at the close of the submission deadline on 1 February 2013.  The 500-word business plan summary submitted by each participating team was judged on the four criteria below:

• Innovation – Novelty and Intellectual Property (40%)
• Scalability – Market size and Sustainability (20%)
• Competitive Positioning – Team and Advisors (20%)
• Financials – Realistic measurable outcome (20%)

On 22 February 2013, 12 teams were shortlisted as semi-finalists as follows:

A.W.E.5 - Dunman High School
Cripers - Millenia Institute
Embracing Home-stay Tourism - Dunman High School
Flash Food Food Ordering Hub - Jurong Junior College
Keyless Car System - Northbrooks Secondary School
Mind Your Cash - Anglo-Chinese Junior College
Security Wrist Alarm - Millenia Institute
Simi-logy - Nanyang Junior College
Stock-it!- Dunman High School
The Dancing Duckling- Nanyang Junior College
The Mobillus- Dunman High School
Unity 2-in-1 Baby Chair- Unity Secondary School

A boot camp was conducted on 2 March 2013 for all the semi-finalists. Each team was assigned a business mentor to work with to improve their business ideas for the final-round judging.  A total of 11 business mentors were assigned to the 12 teams in order to prepare the student participants for presentations at the final judging, which took place on 22 April 2013.

The judging panel comprised Dr Terence Fan, Assistant Professor of Strategic Management (Education) from SMU’s Lee Kong Chian School of Business; Mr Alex Leong, Founder of Rainmaker Labs; and Mr George Han, Startup Champion from IIE.

The results of Youth Innovation Challenge 2013 are as follows:

Winner - Mind Your Cash - Anglo-Chinese Junior College
First Runner-up - Simi-logy - Nanyang Junior College
Second Runner-up - Cripers - Millenia Institute
Consolation Prize – The Dancing Duckling- Nanyang Junior College
Consolation Prize – Security Wrist Alarm - Millenia Institute
Consolation Prize – Stock-it! - Dunman High School

An awards presentation ceremony will be held on 23 August 2013 (Friday) in conjunction with the 7^th biennial Lee Kuan Yew Global Business Plan Competition Awards Dinner.   

SMU extends its heartiest congratulations to all the winners of the inaugural Youth Innovation Challenge and looks forward to greater participation by more secondary schools and junior colleges for next year’s competition.