Purdue DIAL Ventures Ideation Challenge Fall 2022

DIAL Ventures was honored to partner with Purdue University students for the Fall Ideation Challenge!

This Fall’s Ideation Challenge had the participation of 39 undergraduate and graduate students from 27 different areas or majors, organized into 11 teams. It happened between 09/26/2022 and 10/02/2022.

The winning teams were:

1st Place:

·      Tushar Sonvani – Undergraduate – Major in Supply Chain Engineering Technology

·      Brady Wyniemko – Undergraduate – Major in Supply Chain Engineering Technology

They presented a solution for the challenge of “Land Lease Relationship Management."

2nd Place:

·      Josh Bailey – Undergraduate – Major in Agricultural Economics

·      Cheyenne Simmons – Graduate – M.Sc. Candidate in Agricultural & Biological Engineering

·      Harsh Pathak – Graduate – Ph.D. Candidate in Agricultural & Biological Engineering

·      Samiul Basir – Graduate – Ph.D. Candidate in Agricultural & Biological Engineering

They presented a solution for the challenge of “Farm Inventory Management."

The Ideation challenge is a student competition in which Purdue students ideate digital solutions for pressing agriculture and food industry challenges. These solutions help DIAL Fellows’ pursuit of startup companies that help create a better, more connected food system.

Students are given descriptions of specific industry challenges related to general themes such as Labor, Food-Consumer Nexus, ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance), Data Inter/Intra Operability, Financial Complexity/Risk Management, and Traceability/Transparency. The challenge descriptions identify key industry segments and the nature of the job they are trying to accomplish in this area. They also identify the pains and gains for these customer segments.

The students are organized in teams, aiming to choose and solve one of the specific industry challenges and create a “Customer Value Proposition” to match these challenges. To help them succeed, the DIAL team:

•          Provides a base framework to help develop one PPT slide summarizing the value proposition.

•          Provides access to the DIAL Fellows to learn from them how these challenges were identified and what they see as important about each of the identified challenges.

The Ideation Challenge is part of the process used by Purdue DIAL Ventures to uncover the agriculture and food industry’s challenges, or jobs to be done, and create advantaged startups that tackle those needs. This creates a unique opportunity for students to be exposed to the unique experience of venture building in a startup studio and explore entrepreneurship in real-case scenarios. Moreover, by being in contact with real entrepreneurs, students can learn from their experiences.

Winners in this challenge receive a cash prize:

(1st Place -- $4,000 for the team

(2nd Place -- $2,000 for the team)

The winning teams’ members also become Purdue DIAL Ventures Ambassadors, participating in DIAL’s communication pieces, publishing content and receiving invitations to selected events.

Watch their presentations below:

This Fall’s Ideation Challenge had the participation of 39 undergraduate and graduate students from 27 different areas or majors, organized into 11 teams. It happened between 09/26/2022 and 10/02/2022.

The winning teams were:

1st Place:

·      Tushar Sonvani – Undergraduate – Major in Supply Chain Engineering Technology

·      Brady Wyniemko – Undergraduate – Major in Supply Chain Engineering Technology

They presented a solution for the challenge of “Land Lease Relationship Management."

2nd Place:

·      Josh Bailey – Undergraduate – Major in Agricultural Economics

·      Cheyenne Simmons – Graduate – M.Sc. Candidate in Agricultural & Biological Engineering

·      Harsh Pathak – Graduate – Ph.D. Candidate in Agricultural & Biological Engineering

·      Samiul Basir – Graduate – Ph.D. Candidate in Agricultural & Biological Engineering

They presented a solution for the challenge of “Farm Inventory Management."

The Ideation challenge is a student competition in which Purdue students ideate digital solutions for pressing agriculture and food industry challenges. These solutions help DIAL Fellows’ pursuit of startup companies that help create a better, more connected food system.

Students are given descriptions of specific industry challenges related to general themes such as Labor, Food-Consumer Nexus, ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance), Data Inter/Intra Operability, Financial Complexity/Risk Management, and Traceability/Transparency. The challenge descriptions identify key industry segments and the nature of the job they are trying to accomplish in this area. They also identify the pains and gains for these customer segments.

The students are organized in teams, aiming to choose and solve one of the specific industry challenges and create a “Customer Value Proposition” to match these challenges. To help them succeed, the DIAL team:

•          Provides a base framework to help develop one PPT slide summarizing the value proposition.

•          Provides access to the DIAL Fellows to learn from them how these challenges were identified and what they see as important about each of the identified challenges.

The Ideation Challenge is part of the process used by Purdue DIAL Ventures to uncover the agriculture and food industry’s challenges, or jobs to be done, and create advantaged startups that tackle those needs. This creates a unique opportunity for students to be exposed to the unique experience of venture building in a startup studio and explore entrepreneurship in real-case scenarios. Moreover, by being in contact with real entrepreneurs, students can learn from their experiences.

Winners in this challenge receive a cash prize:

(1st Place -- $4,000 for the team

(2nd Place -- $2,000 for the team)

The winning teams’ members also become Purdue DIAL Ventures Ambassadors, participating in DIAL’s communication pieces, publishing content and receiving invitations to selected events.

Watch their presentations below: