Win Big: American Design Style

Last week we announced a Germany based design contest only accepting applicants from Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. Unfortunately, this left out one of the larger segments of our readers. After doing some scrounging around (and a helpful tip from [Flash Gordon]), we managed to find a similar contest run by STMicroelectronics, the makers of the Discovery board. This contest sounds familiar, with free Discovery Board for all approved applicants, and prizes for the most interesting and creative projects. Right now the official rules page seems to be missing, so you technically legally should probably wait to enter, but we can’t stop you. It looks like the official rules page is located here. Thanks to [Andee] for pointing that out. Also, it looks like if you live in Puerto Rico or Quebec, you are also out of this contest as well.

If you are from the EMEA area and missed the last contest, be sure to go back and check it out for your chance to win! Also, we love covering contests (especially ones that give out free kits to all contestants), are there any readers out there that know of a developer other than STM that is offering this kind of deal? We would love to hear from you!

20 thoughts on “Win Big: American Design Style

  1. Well their site is filled with bugs.

    I just registered and found out they didn’t had Quebec as a valid state of Canada,oh yeah but they do have northwest AND territories counting for 2.

    lol.

  2. So… I was initially excited about this contest, but now I most certainly won’t be participating.

    From the rules:

    “BY ENTERING THE CONTEST, EACH OF THE CONTESTANTS HEREBY GRANT TO STMICROELECTRONICS AND ITS AFFILIATES A NON EXCLUSIVE, PERPETUAL, ROYALTY-FREE, FULLY-PAID UP, IRREVOCABLE, SUBLICENSABLE (THROUGH MULTIPLE TIERS), ASSIGNABLE, WORLDWIDE RIGHT AND LICENSE IN AND TO HIS OR HER CONTEST MATERIALS, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ALL INVENTIONS DESCRIBED THEREIN, ALL WORKS OF AUTHORSHIP CONTAINED THEREIN, AND ALL INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS RELATING THERETO,” and it goes on, but you get the idea.

    This rule is simply insulting. A good idea with a polished implementation is worth way more than the possibility of a few measly grand. Stealing people’s ideas may result in a net win for ST, but this sort of tactic is underhanded and harmful to their supporting developer community.

  3. I signed up for this half an hour ago and received a confirmation email. I think they might be having server problems because now I can’t log in at all.

    However, now that I have seen Alex’s post, I will reconsider my participation.

  4. No one says your “Design” has to come to fruition, just pass the first block for the free board…

    They will learn the reality of their scummy idea stealing ways down the road. :)

  5. @Alex

    Glad you actually read the rules. :) Unfortunately, every design contest from the big manufacturers includes something like that. If it makes you feel better, the license (as in this case) is usually non-exclusive. This means that you can make it and sell it too.

    Bottom line (and really, this should be common sense): If you have a really great world-changing make-you-a-billionaire idea, don’t enter it in some dinky contest. If it’s just a mediocre idea, you’re fine. ST won’t find it worthwhile to compete with you, and they won’t be able to sell your idea because it’s worthless unless it’s exclusive.

  6. Quebec has very different rules than the rest of Canada. Including a few doozies that make it not worth non Quebec companies time to jump through the loops.

    A sample from (http://www.mcmillan.ca/Files/FortuitousEvents_0610.pdf)

    If Quebec residents are eligible for a contest where the total value of the
    prizes awarded exceeds $2,000, then the contest promoter must receive
    authorization from the Régie in order to carry-out the contest and comply
    with a wide range of requirements, including the requirement to provide
    contest rules and regulations, as well as promotional materials pertaining to
    the contest in French.

  7. @Alex
    “We funded these developers, they wouldn’t have created this stuff if we hadn’t waved a few hundred dollars under their noses. Never mind that we gave most of them less than $10 in parts, they owe us something.”

    That bit of legalese you quoted is pretty much a boilerplate. Someone said “Oh, we need to make sure who ever wins, we can use their product if we like it. That is what we are investing in with this contest.” and some lawyer pulled that clause out of a book. Chances are you have agreed to something similar multiple times today, when clicking a submit button.

    Still sucks. Maybe HAD can generate enough uproar to get them to change that part of the contest.

  8. @Alex
    Thanks for pointing that out!

    Is anyone else having trouble with the buginess of their site? It is convinced that my business address is my mailing address, even though I *keep* unchecking that box…

  9. GOD DAMMIT! I just tried to update my information and it completely deleted my design abstract and block diagram, and changed my state to Alabama…hopefully they get this fixed, this site sucks

  10. I submitted a design on Sunday and haven’t seen it in the “View Entries” section, but I can view it from the “View my design” link. The only contact I’ve received was the auto-generated message that told me to submit a design (sent after registration). I tried posting a question in the STM32 site’s forum, but the forum is broken and can’t accept any actual posts. I also tried sending an “e-mail” via STM’s “Contact Us” page, but haven’t received a reply and am suspecting that that might be broken too. I can’t find any other contact info for the contest. Anybody else have any clues or hints to help me out?

Leave a Reply to taykenCancel reply

Please be kind and respectful to help make the comments section excellent. (Comment Policy)

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.