WHAT: More than 500 student teams across the globe competed in the 2015 FIRST LEGO League Global Innovation Award competition presented by XPRIZE®, which was narrowed down to 20 semi-finalists teams. From this semi-finalist group, three finalist teams were chosen by a panel of expert judges.

• Finalist teams will be interviewed about their inventions at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and one will win a $20,000 cash prize; two runner-up teams will each earn a cash prize of $5,000
• The prize money, courtesy of the event’s Presenting Sponsor – XPRIZE, will be used to further develop each team’s invention or used toward FIRST activities; and each team member will receive a LEGO® MINDSTORMS® EV3 set from LEGO Education

WHERE/WHEN:

• FIRST LEGO League Global Innovation Award Ceremony
  • Tuesday, June 16, at 11 a.m. EST
  • U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), Madison Building; 600 Dulany Street; Alexandria, VA
  • Live streaming webcast of event: https://livestream.com/uspto/FIRSTLEGOLeagueJune2015

WHY: The annual FIRST LEGO League Global Innovation Award helps students solve real-world problems by supporting the development of their ideas and inventions through the product development process. FIRST LEGO League teams submitted ideas stemming from the 2014-15 season’s FLL WORLD CLASS^SM Challenge, which tasked teams in nearly 80 countries to explore the future of learning. More than 260,000 children worldwide taught adults about the ways that kids need and want to learn in the 21^st century, and developed tools to help others gather knowledge.

VISUALS:

• Students answering questions from experts about their inventions
• Announcement of winning team and runners-up

SPEAKERS:

• Dean Kamen, Inventor and Founder of FIRST
• Michelle Lee, Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director, USPTO
• Alan Zack, Senior Director of Marketing for XPRIZE

ADDITIONAL DETAILS

Dean Kamen founded the not-for-profit FIRST ^® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) in 1989 to inspire young people’s interest in science and technology. FIRST^® LEGO^® League is one of four programs in a Progression of Programs offered by FIRST.

Each year, FIRST LEGO League issues a three-part challenge to its teams, which includes building, testing, and programming an autonomous robot using LEGO^® MINDSTORMS^® technology and conducting a research Project working under a set of Core Values. FIRST LEGO League teams can submit their ideas to the FIRST LEGO League Global Innovation Award competition.

XPRIZE has returned as Presenting Sponsor of the Global Innovation Award for the fifth consecutive year. Partners in Innovation Sponsors include: Booz Allen Hamilton, John Deere, Rockwell Collins, and LEGO Education, in cooperation with Edison Nation and the USPTO.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150615005142/en/

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Contact:

for FIRST ^®
Jamie Berman, 781-775-0347
Email Contact
or
Maureen O’Connell, 617-939-8330
Email Contact