Entrepreneurial Spirit Soars During the UM-Flint Zillion Solutions Competition

Despite complications from the pandemic, the 2021 Zillion Solutions competition, organized by the Hagerman Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, received 495 submissions— up 149 from the previous year.

By Alexis Menard (BBA, 2021)

The campus-wide competition encourages students to create short videos or presentations describing a unique idea for a new product or service that will solve a problem. The 2021 competition was revamped due to the COVID-19 pandemic as the center had to rethink all angles of how to promote the competition to students in the new virtual environment.

“Marketing and promotions was a headache at first,” said Mark Simon, Ph.D., Hagerman Center director and Hagerman Endowed Professor of Entrepreneurship. “A lot of things were up in the air with COVID regulations and the stress and anxiety students felt from the pandemic and returning back for school in the fall.”

Serving as associate director of the Hagerman Center was Brian Blume, Ph.D,. professor of organizational behavior and human resources management. UM-Flint students on the planning team were Erik Johnson, Alexis Menard (BBA, 2021), Angela Longbucco (BBA, 2021), Trevor Bennett (BBA, 2021), Neil Kagerer (BA, 2021), Tim McGlinchey (BBA, 2021) and Sumer Wascher (BBA, 2021).

This year’s Zillion Solutions competition received 495 submissions—up 149 from the previous year. Pictured are some of this year’s organizers: (front) Alexis Menard (BBA, 2021); Neil Kagerer (BA, 2021); Trevor Bennett (BBA, 2021); Angela Longbucco (BBA, 2021) and (back) Brian Blume, Ph. D., associate director of the Hagerman Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation; Erik Johnson, student; Christopher Finelli, student; Mark Simon, Ph.D., director of Hagerman Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation.

The team also had help from Madeline Rasberry (BSN, 2021), a student serving as the first-ever Student Ambassador representing the School of Nursing that advocated for Zillion Solutions in her cohort and to SON students. Rasberry was also the $2,000 grand prize winner of Zillion Solutions in 2019 and used her expertise to mentor her peers.

“It was a team effort. We were also able to get support across campus from staff and faculty members. They are the ones that also made this year a success by talking about Zillion Solutions in their virtual classrooms or posting about it on Blackboard,” said Simon.

One of the ways the Hagerman Center team further developed the competition was to offer more ways to submit ideas. In the past, students were asked to make a short video (under two minutes) that describes their unique idea for a new product or service that will solve a problem. The submission requirements were changed to allow Powerpoint presentations to lower the barriers of entry for students. Alyssa Norris (BFA, 2021) was one of the finalists in the Zillion Solutions competition. Her entry for Sustainability Store was selected as the College of Arts & Sciences winner and fan favorite.

“This change to our submission process made it a lot easier for students to participate and avoided the discomfort some students feel when recording themselves. This process also made it easier for students to submit multiple ideas,” said Simon. “Students started to realize there were problems all around them that they could solve. It sparked more entrepreneurial thinking. We would talk to a student about the competition and their original idea and then next week get an email that they are submitting another idea.”

The biggest increase in participation was seen in Early College and Dual Enrollment Educational Partnerships (DEEP). Erik Johnson facilitated more than a dozen virtual workshops on Zoom with dual enrolled students to help fine tune their ideas and walk them through the submission process.

“The main issue was that students didn’t know how to get started,” said Johnson. “We created a PowerPoint template that included everything we were looking for such as stating the problem, giving examples of existing solutions, and how their solution clearly solves the problem. “We received a lot of great comments on the process and looking back at this year, these [high school] students have been through a lot. Zillion Solutions was an outlet for them to be creative. I’m delighted that we were able to have such a successful year and impact so many students.”

The 2020/21 Zillion Solutions competition was sponsored by the Mott Foundation and supported 53 awards ranging from $100 to $2,000. It also supported the daily operations of the center and smaller prize incentives to students.

The Zillion Solutions Virtual Award Ceremony took place on April 7. Nine finalists from each academic unit, undecided student category, and early college/DEEP went head to head to compete for four prizes; $2,000 – Grand Prize, $1,000 – 1st Runner up, $500 – 2nd Runner up, $500 – Fan Favorite Award.

The Center is planning in-person events in the fall/winter focusing on entrepreneurship and innovation and will be helping students with their Zillion Solutions submission online or with inperson office hours. For more details go to umflint.edu/som/hagerman-center/zillionsolutions/ or contact the Hagerman Center at hagermancenter@umich.edu. Meghan Bobrowski – Multisensory Children’s Books, SEHS Finalist

Stephen Downs – IV Access Stabilization Tray (IVAST), SON Finalist and Grand Prize Winner

Alyshia Fkye-Jolly – O2 Tube, CAS-STEM Finalist

Quinn Hanses – Adaptive Equipment Lending Library, CHS Finalist

Evan Johnson – The Love Button, Undecided Finalist and 2nd Runner Up

Lillian Longdrigian – Volunteer Program for Spanish Speakers, DEEP/EC Finalist

Mark Miller – Ventilator Disconnection Identification Device, SOM Finalist and 1st Runner Up

Alyssa Norris – Sustainability Store, CAS-Arts & Humanities Finalist and Fan Favorite Award

Elizabeth Warden – The Senior Picture Project, CAS-Social Sciences Finalist

Alyssa Norris (BFA, 2021) was one of the finalists in the Zillion Solutions competition. Her entry for Sustainability Store was selected as the College of Arts & Sciences winner and fan favorite.