UPDATE: The Elon Innovation Challenge was held Wednesday, Nov. 16. The Appalchian State team was one of 10 finalists. All finalists had their videos shown before an audience, which then voted. The Wood Welders won first place in both "Fan Favorite" and "Ingenuity" categories. The team won second place overall, as voted by a judged panel. The students were given $200 for the team awards ($100 for each) and $200 (2nd place award for judged panel) for the charity of their choice.

Last Thursday entrants in an innovative think-quick contest were given their two-word assignment - Garbage bags. A four-day countdown then began for teams to not only create something of value from that everyday item, but also post a video on YouTube showing off their project. 

The contest is the Elon Innovation Challenge, overseen by the University's Student Entrepreneurial Enterprise Development (SEED) and the Doherty Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership. For the first time, a group of Appalachian State students are engaged in the competition, many of them active within Walker College's Transportation Insight Center for Entrepreneurship. Ryan Barringer, last year's Appalachian State student entreprenuer of the year, is the team leader.

Their idea was creative, and was borne of a simple problem - what to do when rent's due, and money's tight. 

The team, called the Wood Welders, explains their project.

"We twisted garbage bags into rope for the structure. We fused bags together to form panels for the roof/walls. Clear bags were used to create a skylight on the roof while white bags filled with air were used as insulation and illumination. Garbage bags filled with water helped keep the walls from blowing in the breeze. Very little tape was actually used in the final structure of the house. We mainly added it for looks/ safety in most places."

Video were due noon today, November 14. About a dozen have been posted. 

Judges will select three top awards from all entrants. Each team has a designated charity, which will receive a financial contribution. There's also a popularity component, with the three most liked submissions also receiving awards. Winners will be announced at the Elon Innovation Showcase  November 16 at 4:30 p.m.

The Center for Entrepreneurship is seeking public input on a survey aimed at growing entrepreneurship in the surrounding area. It's a continuation of an earlier survey focused on the "buy local" movement and how intense it may be in Northwestern North Carolina. Called the "Exploring Entrepreneurial Opportunities" survey.

The survey, called "Exploring Entrepreneurial Opportunities," is online. It requires 10 to 20 minutes to complete. It is anonymous. It is also important for potential economic growth, according to a report in the Mountain Times newspaper.

“We need our community’s input on this project and hope to receive an abundance of completed surveys to draw conclusions from throughout our eight-county reach,” said Lisa Redman, external programs officer in charge of the center’s community outreach efforts. “Results of the survey will help the center and other economic developers create strategies to enhance entrepreneurial efforts that spark job creation and increase local buying, and may even shed light on new businesses opportunities that entrepreneurs could take advantage of.” ...

“Our local economy thrives on entrepreneurs,” said Julia Rowland, assistant director of the Center for Entrepreneurship in the Walker College of Business at Appalachian. “Successful local businesses create job opportunities and an abundance of benefits for workers.” 

Ryan Barringer, an Appalachian State senior who started a successful video production company while in high school, was recently named the 2011 Student Entrepreneur of the Year by the Center for Entrepreneurship at Walker College.

His prize was a $2,500 scholarship award.

The award was presented February 23 in front of 300 Appalachian students, faculty, staff, high school students and community members during the 2011 Young Entrepreneurs Symposium, sponsored by Back Yard Burgers. Barringer, who is majoring in Theatre Arts with a concentration in design/technology, was one of 15 nominations accepted from a variety of academic departments across campus.

He was selected as winner because of his outstanding entrepreneurial achievement in production technology, media design and business endeavors. Nine faculty members and business owners evaluated the nominations.

"Trying to juggle the demands of being a full time student, as well as helping to build a business has been an intense experience for me,” he said. “There have been rough spots in both school and work, and a lot of give and take in order to make both happen. I've missed a few classes occasionally in the name of work, and my GPA isn't exactly perfect, but I have gained enough real world experience and networked with numerous persons in the industry to make it a fair trade.”

Barringer says his entrepreneurial endeavors began at an early age when he “wanted to build things, wanted to be his own boss and wanted to help people.” He sold sunglasses and trading cards to friends in middle school. In high school he worked as a DJ and ran a concession business.

His professional entrepreneurial journey began in 2003. While still a junior in high school, he and a friend started Techinc Productions. A full-scale video production company based in Charlotte, it specializes in video and digital media production. It became a Limited Liability Corporation (LLC) in 2005.

By 2007, their work was going national. Technic produced a music video for American Idol contestant Bo Bice that debuted at No. 3 on VH1’s top 20 countdown. It later stayed at No. 1 on the countdown for three weeks. They also produced videos for the legendary metal band Dream Theater and international sensation Trivium.

Techinc has also produced commercials for a diverse list of corporate clients. Keynence, a multinational company based out of Japan, and EVI (now Li-ion Motors Corp), asked for help in unveiling their fully electric sports car, the Inizio, as well as the family-focused WAVE vehicle. The commercial aired nationwide and in Europe.

More recently, Ashley Furniture HomeStores approached Techinc to create a campaign with fresh, new advertising ideas. The resulting commercials scored Nos. 1 and 2 overall for “getting attention” in a regional study of effectiveness.

Techinc has placed in the top ten or better in several national TV series and music videos contests over the last several years.

“I'm only a small part of what goes on at my company,” Barringer said. “Without all the great people I work with and the hard work and creativity that is brought to the table, it wouldn't be worth it. We strive to make everything we do better than what we've done before.

“I am very grateful for these people, and the entrepreneurial opportunities that are available at Appalachian State University."

The other student nominees were:

Thomas Griffin, Senior Management major
Austin Lechner, Junior International Business and Spanish double major 
Alexandra Warren, Senior Entrepreneurship major 
Kerry Dunlap, Senior Theatre Arts major
Aaron Sherwood, Senior Entrepreneurship and Marketing double major
Jack Lafferty, Sophomore Recreation Management major
Cheryll Mathew, Sophomore Communication Disorders major
Christopher Cash, Sophomore Recreation Management major
Nicholas Seligman, Junior Management and Philosophy major
Brett Butler, Senior Appropriate Tech major
Christopher Howell, Junior Education major
Connor Holland, Junior Hospitality and Tourism major
Hannah Ferrara, Senior Studio Art major
Sarah Hostyk, Senior Communications major

A few years ago the mantra "too big to fail" gained prominence in the national economic dialogue. Now comes another one, its antithesis - "buy local to succeed."

"Buy local" is one of many goals driving economical development across the country. Late last year the New York Times reported the country's largest employer, Wal-mart, was going that route, focusing on "sustainable agriculture among its suppliers as it tries to reduce its overall environmental impact." Closer to campus, Appalachian State's Food Services recently announced it was seeking input on how to better "serve up more locally grown products to college students."

Plenty of business opportunities are possible, and the Center for Entrepreneurship at Walker College is exploring that potential growth. Using a grant from the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation and working with Appalachian State's Energy Center, the Center for Entrepreneurship has launched an Exploring Entrepreneurial Opportunities online survey. Its goal is to collect data about consumer purchasing patterns locally and regionally in northwestern North Carolina.

The online survey is open to the public until April 1. 

The survey asks participants what types of products and services they purchase and how often. It also asks where they are making particular purchases and why, according to Lisa Redman, external programs officer with the Center for Entrepreneurship.

“Our hope is that we can figure out why people are buying particular items within their community, somewhere else, or online, in an effort to create strategies to promote more local buying by improving existing businesses or creating new ones that offer what consumers want in their community,” said Redman. “There really isn’t any existing data like this in our region and we’re excited to see the outcomes of this survey. We also realize that this study is just a scratch on the surface of consumer purchasing patterns and the results will pose more questions that we hope to explore in the future.

“We aim to get a broad range of participants throughout our eight-county region, which consists of Alleghany, Ashe, Watauga, Avery, Mitchell, Yancey, Wilkes, and Caldwell counties," said Redman. "The survey is open to everyone in the region who is willing to take 15 minutes of their time to complete it with some thoughtful input."

Redman is working with Jason Hoyle, research analyst with the Appalachian Energy Center, along with numerous community partners. 

The Center for Entrepreneurship was established in 2006 and works to provide opportunities for students at Appalachian and people throughout our region to learn about entrepreneurship. The Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation was established in 1936 and works to “improve the quality of life for people in North Carolina."