Texas Instruments Innovation Challenge

Vietnam MCU Design Contest 2016

To encourage students’ innovation on MCU system design, Texas Instruments announces the MCU Design Contest for Vietnam Universities for the year 2016. 

I.  Contest Content

     It is required to use TI MSP430 launchpads and/or Tiva C launchpads as the main CPU for projects. The students have to design their own hardware platform or/and use existing TI EVMs to implement certain functions. TI analog, power management and wireless connectivity are highly encouraged.

List of 4 launchpads required to choose from:

• • MSP-EXP430G2
  • MSP-EXP430F5529LP
  • EK-TM4C123GXL
  • EK-TM4C1294XL

II. Contest Targets

     Qualification: The contest is open to in school Undergraduates. Every team should have 1-3 team members and 1 lecturer as their advisor. The team members of the winning teams of the contests before year of 2016 are not allowed to participate in 2016 contest.

     Submit Application Form: All teams should submit an application form for the contest, pronouncing their group & design target. The application form is available online and can be found by visiting TI Vietnam support group on Facebook (link), or can be accessed directly through:TIIC Vietnam MCU Design Contest Application form

III. Score Criteria

      In Regional Elections, the judges will evaluate the project quality by scoring the submitted papers in English (full design files or demo videos can be a strong complementary support). In both rounds, the teams will submit the thesis using provided format which can be downloaded from the websites of participating universities.

Score Criteria for Elections (Total 100):

     In National Finals, the teams need to give a presentation (Please note that teams must do presentation in English at National Final), Q&A and a live demonstration to the judges.

Score Criteria for Finals (Total 100):

IV. Contest Time Frame

1. 1. April 30:    Download & Submit Application Form
   2. May 7, 2016:                                 Announce the accepted registrations
   3. Oct 15, 2016:                                 Submit thesis for election
   4. Oct 30, 2016:                                 Winners Announcement
   5. Nov 30, 2016:                               National Final

V. National Level Awards (Following Cash Awards are Pretax)

1. 1. 1st Class Award: USD2000
   2. 2nd Class: USD1000
   3. 3rd Class: USD500
   4. “The most promising”: USD300
   5. “The best presentation”: USD200
   6. Excellence Advisor Awards: The advisors of the 1st place winners in the regional finals will be awarded an amount of US$300.

VI. Scholarships

Sunflower Mission’s Engineering & Technology Scholarships

Sunflower Mission’s Engineering & Technology Scholarships for EACH of the members of the top 3 teams of the national final that meet the following criteria. The scholarship is in the amount of $300.

1. 1. The money is to be used only for educational purpose as outlined below and only in the field of  Engineering & Technology
   2. Students NOT in the last semester of undergraduate program must provide
      1.  grade report for the last two completed semesters (fall 2015 and spring 2016)
      2.  all grades for the last two semesters must be better than 7/10 to qualify
      3.  name of undergraduate degree being pursued
      4. year of graduation   
   3. Students ALREADY in last semester of their undergraduate study must produce
      1.  proof of the current institution stating the student will graduate in December 2016
      2.  proof of admission to a graduate degree that includes name of the institution  
      3.  the graduate degree must be in the field of Engineering & Technology
      4. Letters of recommendation from two professors in the current semester of undergraduate study attesting to know the student will pursue the graduate program in the spring of 2016. The letters from the professors must contain full name, title, university he/she belongs to, email, and telephone number    
   4. Students who have already been awarded E&T scholarship from Sunflower Mission in 2016 are NOT qualified to apply again.
   5. Students will have to submit a headshot & material to meet criteria described in 2 and 3 above by 12/31/2016 to our TI VN team to receive the scholarship by 01/30/2016.  

VII. Contest Organization

Organizer:                 Texas Instruments Inc.
Co-organizer:           

• •  Ho Chi Minh University of Technology (HCMUT)

Co-sponsors:

• • Sunflower Mission’s Engineering & Technology

Contest Judges for regional finals: To be announced later.

Please contact below addresses for inquiry if any:

North Region: Mr. Xuan Kien Nguyen (xuankien.nguyen@ti.com)

Central Region: Mr. Thai Hung Le (thaihung.le@ti.com)

South Region: Mr. Quoc Nguyen (q-nguyen@ti.com)

TI reserves the right of interpretation and modification to all Rules & guidance listed above.

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TI Vietnam University MCU Design Contest Terms and Conditions –PLEASE READ

Please read and accept the following terms and conditions prior to making any submissions or providing any ideas or materials to TI. All submissions made for the TI Vietnam University MCU Design Contest (TIVUMDC) are subject to these terms and conditions and by making the submission, you would be deemed to have unconditionally acknowledged and accepted the same:

1. Teams must be composed of no more than three (3) students total and one (1) advising teacher. Each team member must be enrolled in an accredited educational institution as a full-time student at all times during participation on the team and must ensure in writing at the lime of entry and submission of the design that he/she is in fact a full-time student.  

2. To be eligible to compete, each team must read and complete the entire entry form and submit on time. There are NO ENTRY FEES.

3. Use of a TI MCU (MSP430 or Tiva C) in the contest is required. TI Analog and Wireless Connectivity are highly encouraged.

4. All final contest designs must be submitted to the TIVUMDC organizer according to the requirements of the rules and must be RECEIVED on time! Participants will not be allowed to change or supplement their design submissions once they have been received. All contest design submissions must consist of the following:

-  A report which describes a TI MCU application. The report must be in both Microsoft Word and PDF formats, and cannot exceed twenty (20) pages. Anything after twenty (20) pages may not be read. 

- Final contest design submissions must be consistent with the abstract on the team's entry form.

5. All entrants and advising professors agree to follow and abide by the design requirements and judging criteria.

6. All entrants and advising professors warrant and represent that all contest design ideas and applications submitted to TI are entirely original and that they are the owners of all interests in and rights to such designs.

7. No confidential relationship is established between TI and the entrants and advising professors as a result of entering the TIVUMDC. None of the information submitted by the participants will be treated by TI as trade secrets, confidential information or as protected data under any obligation.

8. To protect participants intellectual property rights, (and our ability to publish the contest design submissions), all entrants and their advising professors agree to be bound by the contest requirements for licensing of non-exclusive rights. Ownership of the design ideas and contest design submissions (hereinafter "Designs") shall remain with the entrants and their advising professors. All entrants and advising professors hereby grant TI Incorporated and its corporate subsidiaries a non-exclusive, world-wide, perpetual and royalty-free license to use the Designs in. or as part of, TI MCU products or products containing or utilizing TI MCUs, to modify the Designs for such uses, and to publish the Designs for such uses by TI or by customers of TI under all Practicality intellectual property rights related to the Designs, including but not limited to, patents, trade secrets.

9. Taxes and other obligations are solely the responsibility of the winners. The awards to the Winners are after-tax.

10. No entries or final design submissions will be returned to participants, regardless of whether they are accepted. All entries and final design submissions become the property of TI Incorporated and its corporate subsidiaries.

11. Judges for the contest will be fully competent and are required to be fair and impartial. Names of the contest judges will be published.

12. Employees of TI and their immediate families are prohibited from entering this contest.