The idea for the SECU Prizes for Innovation came out the Emerging Issues Forum, which was founded nearly 30 years ago by then North Carolina governor Jim Hunt.
The first forum focused on innovation. Now things have come full circle.
The Institute for Emerging Issues, which now plans the annual spring forum, was founded in 2002 and began offering prizes to bright and enterprising students in 2011. The mission of those prizes is for students from around the state to find creative ways to address crucial problems in North Carolina. At stake are more than $100,000 in prizes.
There are two separate competitions, one for high school students and one for college students. Like that first Emerging Issues Forum, this year’s high school competition will be focused generally on innovation, with a $5,000 grand prize.
The college competition will recruit innovators in health, economy, environment and education in North Carolina, says Patrick Cronin, the assistant director for policy and programs at IEI, which is based at NC State and housed in the Hunt Library. In the past, the competition was focused on a single challenge. Last year, for example, winners were all innovators in education.
The full post can be read online at ExitEvent, a news partner of WRAL TechWire.
