Open: NCIIA 14th Annual Conference

The results of entrepreneurial idea pitch and research proposal competitions often determine the award of cash prizes (e.g. $100,000 at MIT) and scarce resources. The recipients of these awards are determined by judging processes. These judging processes are rarely audited or evaluated as to quality or consistency. In this session, the competition judging quality issue will be described, the results of calculating Awg for a variety of competitions will be shared, interventions identified as possible causes of higher levels of consistency will be identified, recommendations will be made as to how to produce a higher level of Awg (meaning higher quality competition judging processes), and participation in collaborative application of the recommendations will be solicited in order to continue the research.