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over 10 years ago

Quick-start guide

There are about six weeks left to submit your new product design or prototype to New York’s Next Top Makers challenge.

Seeking a little inspiration?

We’ve come up with a few brainstorming questions to get your creative juices flowing:

  • If you could redesign anything, what would it be?
  • What product do you use most on a day-to-day basis? Why is it useful?
  • What invention or product would make your life easier?


Still feeling uninspired? Explore the resources page for project ideas and more.

Choose a product category

Before you settle on an awesome product idea, first see whether it’s eligible! According to the official rules of the competition, your product must fit into one of these categories:

  • Consumer products. This includes products designed for personal use (home, work, leisure, health, sports, electronics, etc.)
  • Equipment. This includes equipment designed for public, commercial, industrial, medical, and scientific use (operations, production, construction, etc.)
  • Furniture and lighting. This includes furniture and lighting products in any context (private, public, commercial, or industrial use).
  • Soft goods. This includes products made from soft materials for personal, recreational, outdoor, or work use.
  • Packaging. This includes products that relate to the packaging of goods.
  • Interaction. This includes interactive multimedia and user interface products with physical components for mobile devices and experimental installations.
  • Transportation. This includes vehicles or modes of transportation used to get people or objects from one place to another.
  • DIY (kits). This includes any consumer-assembled product that provides tools or componentry for consumers to produce a final object by themselves.
  • Other. This includes all other eligible products that do not fall into one of the categories listed above. Please note that some products are not eligible. For more information about product eligibility please see the official rules.

Questions?

If you’re still not sure whether your product is eligible, or if you have any other questions about the competition, shoot us an email at support@challengepost.com and include “Next Top Makers" in the subject line.