
A kickoff for the 13th annualStudent Innovator of the Year competition
Run by theSchool of Engineering
SIOY director Steven Boggess said the competition experience allows students to develop personal skills to put on a resume, practice design principles, find and fix real-world problems and turn failures into successes.
2021 SIOY winner and BYU graduate student Chad Pollard created Renew Diagnostics, a blood test that diagnoses Alzheimer's disease early. After winning and receiving $12,000 in a grant to further his product, Pollard said he had multiple investment firms reach out to him offering a few million dollars.
'We're taking off, and it's all been through BYU and opportunities that have happened,' Pollard said. 'A lot more people pay attention to what we produce at BYU than you realize.'
The SIOY competition is a multistep process beginning with making an idea into a prototype development. Students canapply
SIOY co-director Annie Ellis said students' ideas do not have to be big or groundbreaking; creating a team with a diverse set of skills alone would be a good start to the experience.
James Wade, a sophomore in Mechanical Engineering, said he came to the kickoff to scope things out. Though will not be competing this year, Wade said he attended the meeting to understand the annual event for future years and to start networking.
Because part of SIOY is judged on the value of impact, Wade said he would consider looking into making robotics more affordable in developing countries.
All SIOY events and dates are listed on theirwebsite