Pilot Reveals Innovation Challenge Winners

Pilot, an innovation initiative of the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), announced the winners of its first Pilot Innovation Challenge yesterday, October 31, at NAB Futures in Pebble Beach, California. The Pilot Innovation Challenge recognizes creative ideas that leverage technological advances in the production, distribution and display of engaging content.

More than 150 ideas were submitted to address the challenge question, “How might local television and radio broadcasters engage their communities with next generation content on any device, whether big, small or moving?” More than 50 judges narrowed the submissions to the top 10. A panel of five judges from the media technology and broadcast industries selected the top three, who presented their ideas at NAB Futures. Conference attendees determined placement of the top three winners.

The first place winner receives $20,000, second place $15,000 and third place $10,000 to assist with prototyping the concepts. Additionally, the winners receive expert guidance, access to key broadcast executives and exclusive exposure at industry events, such as NAB Show and the Innovation Celebration at NAB Show New York.

The winners are:

1st Place
In Your Shoes
Robinne Burrell and Trina DasGupta — Redflight Mobile Innovation
In Your Shoes is an immersive storytelling platform that utilizes virtual reality to document the lives of multiple people involved in a single situation or issue.

2nd Place
History Go
Jordan Sales, Elise Hackney, Alberta Lin, Eric Asencio, Mike Le, Claire Lohn — Texas A&M University
History GO is an application that connects to user’s current location and utilizes augmented reality to display relevant facts, pictures and videos about the area.

3rd Place
The News Call
Chandra Clark — The University of Alabama
The News Call is a DVR-type phone service that calls the user at a pre-determined time with pre-programmed customized news.

Additional information about the Pilot Innovation Challenge winners is available here.