Chattanooga entrepreneurs will compete on April 8 for 48 hours straight to see who can create the best new product idea. The contest begins Friday at 6 p.m. and the presentations Sunday at 6 p.m. are open to the public, according to Lisa Flint a spokeswoman for the River City Co.
The winning idea, as determined by a panel of judges and the public, will earn its creators $5,000.
Competitors will have a week to "research the market and feasibility, build teams and create momentum, which will be important if they want to be in the running for the $5,000," said Sheldon Grizzle, founder of The Company Lab.
Teams will "collaborate around the clock to create working prototypes of their products, fueled by local coffee, food and beer vendors," a news release for the event says.
The event will be hosted at BaseCamp Chattanooga, the former industrial YMCA, according to owner Jack Kruesi.
The original 48Hour Launch in 2009 helped set up Lokewl.com and Chattanooga 3-D, which helped build a 3-D model of Chattanooga for River City Co., using technology from Google.