Student eligibility 

Under the guidance of an educator, students may work independently on an individual project, or they may work in groups of up to 4 students on a team project. All students on a project must be in the same grade range. 

Qualifying inventions awarded as the top projects at our regional hub competition will advance to compete at the state competition. The top projects from the state competition will advance to compete at U.S. Nationals. 

Downloadable Regional Hub

Download our one-pager PDF to learn more and share this at-a-glance overview!
 

How students compete 

Students: 

• work under the guidance of an educator through the invention process (we recommend up to 6-8 weeks).
• develop an invention that solves a problem in their life, the life of a loved one or their world.
• compete with an individual project, or may compete with a team project (1 to 4 students).
• develop, test and improve their projects from October through February.
• complete the following 5 requirements to enter the competition:
  1. One logbook/journal per project, documenting the invention process.  
  2. One prototype per project, demonstrating how the invention will function (prototype does not need to "work", as long as students display its purpose visually).  
  3. One display board per project, recapping the invention process, key findings, and shows their invention's purpose/solution to a problem.
  4. One in-person pitch presentation per project to be delivered in-person at the Regional Hub competition, along with a Q&A from judges (all team members must participate).
  5. One 4-6-minute recorded pitch video per project (with help from educators), showing the student(s) presenting their invention prototype for judging. Video must be unedited and submitted by the deadline to be judged prior to the competition.  

Student invention projects: 

Students are eligible to compete at the regional hub level once their Educator registers. Educators will help their students submit their online pitch videos when registration opens for the regional hub competition. All remaining requirements will be brought in-person to the regional hub competition at Wayne State University's STEM Innovation Learning Center.

Regional Hub Scoring Rubric

Download the Judges' Scoring Rubric PDF to learn more about points students can earn and how they will be scored at the regional level.

Regional hub Award categories:

The top projects in the following grade ranges will be awarded at the regional hub level, and will advance to the state level competition. 

• Grades K-2 may participate in the Wayne County Hub but will not be eligible to advance to the state or national levels
• Grades 3-5
• Grades 6-8
• Grades 9-12
• Top Project Overall (all grades)

For more information about our Wayne County regional hub competition at the STEM Innovation Learning Center, please contact us at thezip@wayne.edu. 

If your school district is not within Wayne County, and you would like more information about Invention Convention Michigan, please contact inventionconvention@thehenryford.org.