The Cade Museum for Creativity & Invention has announced that the 2019 Cade Prize, Florida’s pre-eminent invention and innovation competition, is accepting applications from entrepreneurs, inventors, researchers, and preseed and early-stage companies through March 10, 2019. See full 2019 Cade Prize competition and application details at www.CadeMuseum.org/cadeprize.
The Cade Prize, established in 2010, rewards individuals and companies with an original idea that has market potential. 2019 Cade Prize cash awards will total $50,000, with a $25,000 First Place award, $15,000 Second Place award, and $10,000 Third Place award. The Fourth-Place award is in-kind services to support acceleration. Funding for the Cade Prize competition is generously provided by the Community Foundation of North Central Florida.
Since 2010, the Cade Prize has drawn hundreds of applications throughout Florida. Soilcea, of Gainesville, FL was awarded First Place in 2018 for work with the genetic editing tool CRISPR-Cas9 to create disease-resistant citrus trees (Soilcea is an affiliate member of the USF Incubator at the University of South Florida.) Antibiotic Adjuvant was awarded Second Place, Standing Wave Reformers, Third Place, and Init Weather received the Fourth Place Award. On behalf of Soilcea, Yianni Lagos, Kara Boltz, Pamila Vongdeuane, and Nikki Aiosa accepted their Cade Prize Awards at the Cade’s 2018 Inventivity Bash.
Application Process: Applications for the 2019 Cade Prize Competition will be accepted through March 10, 2019. The Sweet 16 finalists will be announced on March 15, 2019, and the Final Four on April 15, 2019. The winners will be named at the Cade Museum’s 2019 Inventivity Bash on May 18, 2019. See complete 2019 Cade Prize competition and application details at www.CadeMuseum.org/cadeprize.
Cultivating Invention & Innovation in Florida: The state of Florida is recognized as a leader in innovation and invention, and in 2017, the top two patent-producing Florida universities (USF & UF) produced 227 patents (more patents than the three NC Research Triangle universities, UNC, Duke, & NC State, with 189 patents combined.) From 2010 to 2015, three Florida institutions, the University of Florida, University of South Florida, and University of Central Florida, garnered 1,111 patents (each being in the top 20 U.S. schools.)
