The Chicago Innovation Chase, a one-day product design and business challenge, is the flagship event of the Entrepreneurship Program at IIT. Teams of five students are given a product to design – such as a cell phone – and then a single clue. This clue leads the team through downtown Chicago, to a dozen attractions and noteworthy organizations, where judges evaluate the teams on their performance of tasks such as an elevator pitch, media interview, ethnographic study, rapid prototype, and opportunity assessment.


The 2009 Chicago Innovation Chase was held on April 17, 2009. Eight teams of the best and brightest undergraduate entrepreneurs from DePaul University, Illinois Institute of Technology, Lawrence Technological University, Milwaukee School of Engineering, Ohio Northern University, Saint Louis University, University of Illinois at Chicago, and Valparaiso University competed for a top prize of $2500. Students started the day with a rousing kickoff event led by Dr. David Pistrui, Clark McCain, Program Manager, The Coleman Foundation, and Dr. Tim Kriewall, Program Director, the Kern Family Foundation.

This year, teams were challenged to design hospitality packs for Chicago's tourists and business travelers. Students met with influential business and social leaders from World Business Chicago, the Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center, and the Coleman Foundation, then returned to the kickoff location to finalize their written opportunity assessments and create prototypes of their new devices. During this time, faculty advisors and guests from the Kern Family Foundation networked, met with students in our Kern Innovation and Entrepreneurship Academy, and attended a luncheon presentation by Thomas Stat, Associate Director, IDEO. At the end of the day, the judges tallied scores from the various segments of the competition and the winning teams were announced:


The Chicago Innovation Chase is an effective vehicle for driving interest in entrepreneurship at IIT and the surrounding community. We inspire students from all disciplines to explore entrepreneurship as a career option and instill in them the concepts associated with the entrepreneurial mindset. Chase participants learn basic practices through experiential learning rather than through being told how to turn an idea into a business. One student, an Entrepreneurship major from UIC, was enthused by “the intensity of a raw entrepreneurial experience.” Another student from St. Louis University enjoyed “the many learning opportunities [that forced] us to think on our feet and innovate.”