TI Korea (CEO Kent Chon, www.ti.com/ww/kr) April 1, 2014 – TI Korea (CEO Kent Chon) has begun accepting applications from engineering students across the country for the Texas Instruments Innovation Challenge (TIIC).

This contest was designed to increase engineering students' interest in and understanding of TI MCUs, and to encourage innovative and original development ideas. Starting in 2010 and now in its 5th year, this contest has expanded its scope to include a BoosterPack* design contest to accommodate greater participation from students and diverse idea implementation.

Any engineering student from universities and graduate schools nationwide can participate in this contest, either individually or in teams of up to 3 people. Participants should present BoosterPack development ideas based on the MSP430, C2000, or Tiva C LaunchPad platform designated by TI. Participants who also use TI analog and connectivity ICs will receive additional bonus points, and each applicant will be provided with one LaunchPad free of charge to assist with development.

The judging criteria include TI MCU utilization, development creativity, project completeness, difficulty level, and practicality, with TI's MCU specialist engineers serving as judges. The winning team selected through final judging will receive a prize of 3 million won, and recipients of the Grand Prize (2 teams), Excellence Award (3 teams), and Encouragement Award (4 teams) will each receive 1.5 million won, 1 million won, and 500,000 won respectively, for a total prize pool of 11 million won. Winners of the Grand Prize, Excellence Award, and Excellence Award who apply for TI Korea's public recruitment in October will receive bonus points in the document screening phase.

Online registration and submission of a brief project proposal will be accepted from April 1 (Tuesday) through May 30 (Friday), and the final report must be submitted by August 22. The results of the first round of judging will be announced on September 5 through the TI Korea University Program homepage (www.ti.com/tiic-kr), and teams that pass the first round of judging will undergo final presentations on October 1 (Wednesday) followed by the awards ceremony. More detailed information about the contest and participation methods can be found on the homepage www.ti.com/tiic-kr.

Kent Chon, CEO of TI Korea, stated, "We are amazed every year by the innovative ideas of university students using TI's MCUs," and added, "Since this year's concept has changed to BoosterPack design, we expect more interesting and diverse ideas than previous years because easier and more varied development will be possible."