Other than the prestige of winning and the respect earned even if you place second (after all, it is a tremendous accomplishment), what other value can be gained from competing for this prize? How can students, companies, and organizations benefit from their participation, regardless of whether the team wins or loses? Consider the following challenges:

* How should funds, people, and resources be split across research and development (R&D) for designing new technologies (certainly of interest to engineering students) vs. buying commercially available off-the-shelf components (more likely to reduce the time required to get to the launch date)?
* In the context of the preceding bullet, should the effort be viewed primarily as an engineering education, a business decision-making education (how to be first to market, which is the launch in this case), or a combination of both?
* With the potential for multiple companies, organizations and universities as sponsors and participants, how will diverse interests be accommodated? Imagine this real-world learning experience for tomorrow's engineers and business leaders.
* What is the ultimate goal? Winning at all costs? Developing systems and components that can become commercially viable products, regardless of whether the team wins or loses? Visibility and prestige for the sponsors? Again we have potentially divisive goals... and a fabulous learning experience for students.

I'm sure you can think of many more challenges and the benefits thereof. When it's all said and done, when the winner's limelight fades as it eventually must, keep your eye on the teams that didn't win. The wiser teams will learn a great deal just by competing and will become players in the space economy. Talk about value.

Note: Even though I originally wrote this at www.jeffkrukin.com on March 19, 2008, I feel it's worth using here.