The Coca-Cola Company offers $10K Prize to Re-Imagine the Soda Fountain
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Re: The Coca-Cola Company offers $10K Prize to Re-Imagine the Soda Fountain
#2I wonder why there aren't more cheap R&D contests like those. It seems like a fun way to get outside ideas and can result in some really nice inventions.
Re: The Coca-Cola Company offers $10K Prize to Re-Imagine the Soda Fountain
#3I wonder why there aren't more cheap R&D contests like those. It seems like a fun way to get outside ideas and can result in some really nice inventions.
I think it's a matter of knowing how to connect to a community of folks who make things. That's probably why they partnered with Hacker Dojo.
Re: The Coca-Cola Company offers $10K Prize to Re-Imagine the Soda Fountain
#4I'm outside of US, if any team going to the event, wants a extra hand, I would love to collaborate. I already have a good idea about the external design.
skype: carl.theteuton
Re: The Coca-Cola Company offers $10K Prize to Re-Imagine the Soda Fountain
#5I'd design it like a Cobra to stress the fact that Soda is toxic... To each their own, but I like my hackathons to be about bettering the world.
Re: The Coca-Cola Company offers $10K Prize to Re-Imagine the Soda Fountain
#6It's interesting to see Coca-Cola embracing this- I attended a hackathon they organised with Spotify last year and had a great time. It's particularly pleasing to see that the terms of the prize are very upfront here- they will pay you $10k for your prototype and IP. You are free to walk away.
Re: The Coca-Cola Company offers $10K Prize to Re-Imagine the Soda Fountain
#7I wonder why there aren't more cheap R&D contests like those. It seems like a fun way to get outside ideas and can result in some really nice inventions.
I would guess that the legal teams at major companies are traditionally gun shy about this kind of thing. Let's say Coke buys some IP resulting from this thing for $10k and then it goes on to revolutionize their business model and they make millions and millions from it .
I'm going to guess that whoever got stuck with the $10k is going to come back with lawyers and say they were taken advantage of, that their interests in the IP negotiation weren't properly represented, that a team of tinkers was no match to negotiate with a professional team of IP lawyers, etc... That's not to say that those are valid arguments, but they are arguments plenty of people make after the fact.
It's been my experience that huge companies have a vested interest in the appearance of dealing fairly and matter-of-factly with small third party vendors, especially in terms of IP law. Even if taking advantage of someone in such a manner doesn't become a legal issue, it's a huge PR liability.
Re: The Coca-Cola Company offers $10K Prize to Re-Imagine the Soda Fountain
#8I wonder why there aren't more cheap R&D contests like those. It seems like a fun way to get outside ideas and can result in some really nice inventions.
Maybe because product development engineers know what their time and skills are worth, and it's a lot more than $10K?
Don't get me wrong, little contests like this can be great experience for smaller businesses that need development skill and for designers that need the portfolio pages.
But this is Coca-Cola. Then again, considering how much money got sunk into the Freestyle (and they're not out of the woods yet, that machine has problems), maybe a $10K contest is a way to keep the PD pipeline going and keep the accountants happy.
Re: The Coca-Cola Company offers $10K Prize to Re-Imagine the Soda Fountain
#9I'd design it like a Cobra to stress the fact that Soda is toxic... To each their own, but I like my hackathons to be about bettering the world.
"Everything is poison, there is poison in everything. Only the dose makes a thing not a poison."
Overconsumption may be the problem, i treat soda like a candy and drink one glass once/twice a week.
Re: The Coca-Cola Company offers $10K Prize to Re-Imagine the Soda Fountain
#1010k is kind of a small prize for something like this.