Make48 Returns to Union Station This Fall, Applications Open Now

Inventors contest Make48 is coming back to Union Station this fall—and it could ultimately be coming to your TV, too.

Applications are being accepted now through Aug. 15 for teams of inventors, who will be given 48 hours to build a look-and-feel prototype of a new product. Competitors won’t be told what kind of product they’ll need to build until the start of the weekend-long event on Oct. 2-4. First place includes a $6,000 cash prize.

CurtMcMillanHeadshotA film crew from Los Angeles will be shooting the contest, said Curt McMillan, co-founder of Make48 and the president of the Inventors Center of Kansas City. They’ll gather enough footage for a TV pilot that could potentially be sold to a network.

The first Make48 drew 13 teams, not just from Kansas City, but New York, New Jersey and even Canada. The October event will include up to 20 teams of two to four people. McMillan said organizers have already received applications from Ohio, New Mexico, Utah and several other states.

There are several invention contests out there, but Make48 is unique because of its 48-hour time limit and the fact that competitors aren’t told what they need to create until the very beginning of the competition, McMillan said. (With other invention contests, the entrants have usually been mulling over their idea for some time.)

“You don’t know what you’re going to come up with until we announce the challenge on Friday,” McMillan said.

If a team is selected to compete, each member must pay a $95 entry fee. For more information about Make48, visit this website.

Not interested in competing? Make48 will host a daylong slate of speakers and experts on Oct. 3. You can register here.