Cool Idea! Hot Offer

Photo Credit: Proto Labs

Proto Labs firmly believes there’s a single good idea at the foundation of every innovation that changes our lives for the better. That’s why the company launched Cool Idea!, an award program that’s all about nurturing great ideas while they’re fresh.

While there are plenty of programs recognizing great design after a product has made it to market, this one’s different:  It seeks to recognize innovative thinking that still needs the resources to come to fruition. Too often great ideas go undeveloped not for lack of trying, but for lack of funds. Through Cool Idea!, Proto Labs is offering up to $100,000 of prototyping and short-run production services to support new product and project ideas.

How it Works
Applicants can submit a 3D CAD model to
protolabs.com/coolidea for consideration. They’ll be asked questions such as “What does it do?” “What need does it serve?” and even “How cool is it?” If selected, award recipients can use their Proto Labs–manufactured functional product parts for prototyping, design iterations, testing or even an initial product run.

What is “cool”? The notion of cool includes anything that takes the form of smart, problem-solving or general life-improving products. So far, interesting entries have ranged from nifty techy gadgets, robotics and automation, and a handful of proposed solutions to more common problems. Proto Labs’ initiative helps numerous companies realize their marketing and manufacturing goals more quickly because the company prides itself on quickness, claiming to be the world’s fastest provider of machined and injection-molded parts.

In fact, the firm has come a long way in little more than a decade when, in 1999, founder Larry Lukis changed the way the custom, low-volume manufacturing industry worked. His goal was to make injection-molded parts faster and cheaper. As an entrepreneur and engineer, he knew if he could speed up the mold making effort, it would be both a convenience and a competitive advantage to those in need of prototype and short-run production parts.  Today, Proto Labs is shipping parts from standard manufacturing processes faster and at a lower cost than anyone else-not too bad for a company from Maple Plain that started with its own cool idea.

Companies like Proto Labs are also going to great lengths to reshape the general image of manufacturing.  Often considered in decline, it’s now a fast-paced, high-tech sector that thrives on innovative thinking and creative solutions to everyday challenges.  Cool Idea! is one obvious example.

“We’re impressed with all of the entries we’ve received and look forward to those yet to come,” says Brad Cleveland, CEO since 2001.  “We’ve been fortunate enough to reap the benefits of original thinking and powerful ideas, and we’re eager to return the favor to tomorrow’s innovators.”

Cool Idea! is Proto Labs’ new award program designed to help entrepreneurs make the transition from “great idea” to “great success.”

» What: Up to $100,000 of prototyping and short-run production services will be awarded each year.

» You need: A 3D CAD model at a product stage where parts can be made within 90 days, and an airtight explanation of what makes your idea cool.

» Criteria: Originality, feasibility, potential benefit to end-users and innate coolness.

» Where: protolabs.com/coolidea