Thank you to all of the participants, creative coaches and judges who attended the 2017 Innovate Extension event!

During the event, teams were led through warmup creativity exercises and then worked to develop an innovative idea for Extension.  After the work session each team pitched their idea.  Think Shark Tank but for the work place!

View more photos and videos from the event on Twitter #InnovateOSE.

Thanks to Michele Wilfred (Creative Coach from Univ. of Delaware) for live streaming the final idea pitches on her Facebook page.  Check out the recording here:

Link to recording: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bw61Uq55DQXwUS1oVTMwaURSUEE/view

Event Outcomes 

$5000 award: Teams Turquoise & The A-Team independently developed related ideas and won a combined funding award to build an “Innovation Gym”.  Their idea focuses on developing & sharing innovation skills among Extension colleagues.  (Turquoise: Jeff Choate, Ana Lu Fonseca, Weston Miller, Alice Phillips, Tim Stock, Siew Sun Wong. The A-Team: Alisha Atha, Mike Knutz, Kelli Watcherson)

Best Team effort award: Team Emerald (Jennifer Alexander & Kaci Buhl)

People’s Choice for Best Pitch award: Team Emerald (Jennifer Alexander & Kaci Buhl)

Best Creativity Exercise design & pitch award: Team Notions in Motion with the Nutriscan 5000 (Vince Adams, Shannon Caplan, Emily Henry, Melanie Mitchell, Jennifer Oppenlander) See their pitch here.

Several teams independently developed ideas that could be combined into powerhouses of innovation.  These teams were invited to combine their ideas for greater impact and apply for the newly announced O&E Innovation Awards which can provide a larger level of funding than was available for the Innovate Extension event.

Team Tourism, Team OR Master Naturalist & Team Innovation Bridgers all developed ideas focused on the overall theme of increasing engagement with Oregon’s natural resources and how Extension can provide deep, meaningful education.  (Team Tourism: Jon-Paul Bowles, Frank Burris, Jared Delay, Marcus Hinz, Pami Monnette, Miles Phillips, Mary Stewart. Team OR Master Naturalist: Glenn Ahrens, Jamie Doyle, Ann Harris, Dana Martin, Jason O’Brien, Brandy Saffell, Carole Smith, J Rachel Werling, Brad Withrow-Robinson. Team Innovation Bridgers: Emily Anderson, Daniel Leavell, Maggie Livesay, Jenna Mendenhall, Renee O’Neill, Susan Sahnow,  Patrick Willis.)

 Team Indigo & Emerald both proposed developing a version of a rapid/quick response system for responding to emerging situations.  (Team Indigo: Sam Angima, Lynette Black, Amy Schmid, Gail Wells.  Team Emerald: Jennifer Alexander & Kaci Buhl)

 

Thank you again to all who participated in Innovate Extension!

What will we be doing on May 23rd?

Being innovative. Spending an entire day thinking of creative solutions to our often complex challenges in Extension. Perhaps even putting together the most non-traditional funding or idea proposal you have ever created.

Here is an overview of the event timeline:

1. Team work session  = brainstorm ways to update programs, ways of teaching/working, or just think of creative solutions to Extension challenges. The sky is the limit!
2. Team “pitch” development. Using what resources are available to you during the event, your team will create a very brief presentation – or “pitch” – of your best idea, solution, or even prototype.
3. Voting! All teams and others in attendance (including Scott Reed, Lindsey Shirley and other administrators) will vote for the winning team(s) based on the pitch session.
4. The winning team(s) will go home with awesome prizes – including potential funding to turn their amazing idea into a reality! And all participants will take home some cool swag items.

Ready to register?

REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN!  Deadline to sign up was 4/10.

Want to know more about Innovate Extension? Check out the FAQ for all the details.