The 2021 Southern Automotive Conference will feature a pitch competition (Innovation test track competition), providing companies with a new technology, innovative product or service valuable to the auto industry with the opportunity to earn a cash award and exposure to both investors and decision makers with automotive companies throughout the Southeast.
To participate in the pitch competition — called Innovation Test Track — before July 15 applicants should submit an executive summary, which will be reviewed by judges with backgrounds in automotive, technology and venture capital. The judges will review the summaries and select the finalists by September 7. The four finalists will then make their pitches in person to the judges at the conference on October 14. The judges will choose a winner who will take home the $10,000 cash prize and will receive a complimentary exhibit booth in the SAC exhibit hall, as well as advertisement in Southern Automotive Alliance.
The judges for this year’s Innovation Test Track are Richard Davies, director of Sustainable Transportation Program at ORNL; Ken Gould, e-mobility technical systems engineer at Porsche Cars North America; Rusty Kruciak, principal and vice president of mergers and acquisitions at 2nd Generation Capital; Amy Moffatt, senior manager of Operations Management Development Division at Toyota North America and Heather Woods, project engineer at Dynetics Inc.
“Since it was introduced at SAC in 2017, the Innovation Test Track competition has helped to spotlight and encourage startups and other companies who have developed innovative products and services,” said Mike Stonecipher, chairman of the SAC Innovation Test Track. “And, for this year’s event, the pitch event has an even more prominent position on the program and we are doing more to promote and enhance the visibility of the finalists during the conference.”
The Southern Automotive Conference, in its 14th year, will be held October 13-15, 2021, in Birmingham, and is expected to attract 1,200 attendees and feature more than 200 exhibitors. New to this year’s conference is a VIP matchmaking session, a welcome reception and an interactive event app, Whova.
For more information on the Innovation Test Track or to submit an executive summary, visit the SAC website here.
