Inspiring Student Innovation
As the new quarter gets underway at Oregon State University (OSU) in Corvallis, Oregon, technologically minded students are busy preparing for an inspiring event. HWeekend is a competition that brings together students of all disciplines to create new, marketable inventions. But there’s a catch. They only have 30 hours! 30 hours to come up with an idea, recruit a team of students to help turn that idea into reality, create a prototype, put together a business plan, pitch the idea to the judges, and, hopefully, win a prize.
This fast-paced event is sponsored and organized by OSU’s College of Engineering, College of Business, and InnovationX, with support from Inventors Enterprise, a club of students working to create innovative solutions to society’s problems.
Alejandro Navarro, the current president of Inventors Enterprise and senior at OSU, started off as a participant of HWeekend when he was a sophomore. He enjoyed his experience so much that he joined Inventors Enterprise to get more involved and continue working on new ideas and projects. This upcoming HWeekend will be his third year as either a participant or an organizer. He says that for him, the best part of HWeekend is coming up with an idea and having something that you can physically hold in your hand 30 hours later.