Bucks for Bright Ideas 2014 Competition

The 2014 Bucks for Bright Ideas competition, a program of the Bowling Green, Elizabethtown and Owensboro offices of the Kentucky Innovation Network, is funded by the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development. The Cabinet, along with the Kentucky Innovation Network, works to cultivate an entrepreneurial and small business support system through an array of programs, initiatives and partnerships benefiting entrepreneurs, small business owners and knowledge-based start-up entities. The Bucks for Bright Ideas program encourages entrepreneurs to move their “bright ideas” forward toward commercialization.

The annual competition concluded on May 7, 2014, with an awards dinner held at the WKU Center for Research and Development in Bowling Green. The event was attended by approximately 150 contest entrants and guests. Over $40,000 in donated services from 18 regional sponsors was presented to 23 award winners, which included three high school and six university applicants. All applicants, not just award winners, were encouraged to work with the Kentucky Innovation Network in an effort to turn their “bright idea” into a business reality.