The University of Wisconsin sponsored its fifth annual Wiscontrepreneur 100-Hour Challenge, which provides students with the tools and opportunity to exhibit their innovations at the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery.

Office of Corporate Relations spokesperson Vickie Eiden said the new showcase allows contestants to set up and display their creations to the public. There were three $300 prizes: most value-generated, most social-generated and most creative. The fourth prizewinner was a people’s choice, where the public had a 48-hour time frame to vote for their favorite innovation online.

“We really wanted students to exercise their creativeness and innovations,” Eiden said.

The showcase was part of the Institutes for Discovery’s monthly science fair, Saturday Science, which usually attracts more than 500 people. Eiden said they wanted contestants at the showcase to serve as role models.

Saturday Science is held for Madison-area youth, and this past weekend celebrated WIsconsin environmentalist and conservationist Aldo Leopold, who was also a UW professor in the 1900s.

Eiden added the challenge showcase was a part of the event’s theme because it showed how to repurpose old material.

The 100-Hour Wiscontrepreneur Challenge was set up the same way as previous years, but a big change this year was that it was more visible, she said.

The location of the challenge’s supply store was on ground level instead of the usual basement location in Sellery Hall. The promotional sign was also between the busy traffic and pedestrian walkway next to a bus stop in hopes to attract people, Eiden noted.

She added the challenge always draws excitement and high energy from participants.

“This event is intended to peek at people’s creativity and promote the entrepreneur idea in business, arts and public,” said Jeanan Yasiri, executive director of UW’s Center for Nonprofits. “It provides thinking outside the box to solve issues.”

The challenge is a requirement in Yasiri’s entrepreneurship in society course. She added her class is large and does not necessarily provide hands on activities, so the challenge is good practice. Yasari also said group work was important in order to exercise thinking skills.

Weeyon Whang, a fourth year consumer affairs who is a student in Yasari’s class, said he found the most difficult part of the project was working with a partner.

“At first, I didn’t want to do it because the challenge dates were too close to my midterms and papers,” Whang said. “But when I went to the shop and put my hands on the items, I was excited.”

Whang added he participated in the event for fun, not just to be a finalist, and did not think about winning or losing.

Eiden added entrepreneurship can be a campus-wide skill, with students from all majors rather than simply business having new entrepreneurial ideas.

Yasiri cited apparel, food items and water resource innovations as previous innovations which garnered attention through the competition.

“Honestly, I can’t say I’ve seen people with the same ideas or creations as the previous contestants,” Yasiri said. “The whole point of assigning the challenge in my class was to let my students find a solution to solve problems in the society.”

As of Sunday night, the winners of the competition had not been posted online.