Win $10K in the UofL Soy Innovation Challenge

By Andrew Marsh 

The Kentucky Soybean Promotion Board is pleased to introduce its inaugural Soy Innovation Challenge, held in conjunction with Conn Center for Renewable Energy Research at the University of Louisville.

Soybeans and their components are incredibly versatile materials, used in hundreds if not thousands of industrial and commercial applications daily. The renewable, sustainable nature of soy is highly desirable for consumers, retailers and product manufacturers.

Student teams from UofL, under the direction of Conn Center and UofL faculty mentors, will formulate and present concepts to the Soybean Board and/or staff in September via Zoom. Four to five concepts will be awarded $2,000-$3,000 in seed money to develop those concepts over the course of the next few months.

Preliminary concepts are due by September 15 at 11:59 p.m. Invited full proposals are due December 12 at 11:59 p.m.

Selected teams will compete to create novel products or materials using soybeans and/or their components. The focus is on the production or implementation of an example product or material.

Student-mentor teams will brainstorm product ideas, create a production timeline, conduct patent searches, develop a market analysis, document the technical process of creating their product/material, design packaging and market their product/material.

Those proposals will be presented to the Soybean Board for final review at the end of the 2021 fall semester.

The first-place team will receive $10,000 and the second-place team will receive $5,000.

“By engaging the UofL community, we hope to recruit diversely skilled students who will look at soy products, applications and economics for their untapped potential,” said Jagannadh Satyavolu, theme leader for biofuels at Conn Center and coordinator for the Soy Innovation Challenge.

The Soy Innovation Challenge is open to all currently enrolled undergraduate and graduate students at UofL.

For full details, visit https://www.conncenter.org/soy-innovation-challenge-2021.

For more information, email jagannadh.satyavolu@louisville.edu.