The following SMART 100 profile and the information it contains is a duplication of content submitted by the applicant during the entry process. As a function of entry, applicants were required to declare that all details are factually correct, do not infringe on another’s intellectual property and are not unlawful, threatening, defamatory, invasive of privacy, obscene, or otherwise objectionable. Some profiles have been edited for reasons of space and clarity. More about the SMART 100.

This innovation initially came to life when…

This innovation initially came to life when a typically short snow season left the inventor thinking about how he could get the snowboard experience all year long. A love of extreme sport, a desire to ride a board off-road all year long and huge amount of ingenuity allowed the inventor to construct a proof of concept. It took 10 years from having the idea to riding the proof of concept in 2004. The outcome will be the best of skating / snowboarding / motoX all combined into one awesome electric-powered off-road product.

WHAT & HOW

The purpose of this innovation is to…

This purpose of this innovation is to provides a clean and green off-road powersport option for board riders. We intend to provide an equivalent off-road experience for board riders to quad bikes (ATVs) or MotoX bikes.

It does this by…

It does this by riding like a board, steering by weight transfer, just like other boards. The vehicle has tracks on the front and rear instead of wheels which allows it to traverse just about any off-road surface including dirt and sand. It’s powered by a ruggedized electric system. It’s not only environmentally friendly, but has 100% torque from 0!

PURPOSE & BENEFITS

This innovation improves on what came before because…

There have been a lot of attempts to build boards for off-road use but they’ve failed to generate mass appeal. We think there are a few reasons for this. For example:

- Past attempts have been hard to ride
- Wheels are difficult to make large without losing stability
- Heavy mud ends your day

We can solve these problems!

Its various benefits to the customer/end-user include…

The benefit to the end user is having an off-road board riding experience available which is the equivalent in quality to a MotoX bike. Nothing to learn, just use the existing skills. Stable, robust, exciting … and still envrionmentally friendly.

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

In the past, this problem was solved by…

In the past, the few off-road board riding alternatives available have failed to get any real traction. What this has meant is that most board riders have opted for a MotoX bike or quad bike (ATV) because there has been no credible off-road board option available.

Its predecessors/competitors include…

The competition in a narrow sense is other powered mountainboards and similar. In a broader sense, it’s the all powersports products – quad bikes, MotoX bikes, jetskis, etc. In reality, we are competing for ‘leisure spend’ at our price point.

TARGET MARKET

It is made for…

The target market for this product is board riders 16-30; however, the cost may see the actual customers older. It’s a vehicle, not a toy. The JetSki (personal water craft) market average age of a customer in Australia is 42 due to the cost. Our product estiamated RRP will preclude most school-aged teens purchasing one, although some may find a way. Like most other extreme and off-road sports, our customers will largely be male and be primarily GenY and GenX. They will be existing board riders, and many will already own other powersports products.

DISTRIBUTION STRATEGY

It is available for sale through…

At this time, we intend to sell through 2 means. Direct at full RRP via our website, or via a local dealer who has signed on as our agent. The powersports channel will be our primary dealer channel.

Our marketing strategy is to…

We have had approximately 5000 expressions of interest in purchasing one in the past 4 years. Our first strategy to is convert some of these to sales. We will leverage the 120 media outlets who’ve contacted us. PR is not a problem. We will also co-brand for launch with identified partners, and leverage viral Internet further; YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, etc.

SUPPORTING IMAGES AND/OR VIDEO

SHOW YOUR SUPPORT FOR THIS INNOVATION

While the judging is now officially over, you can still show your support for this innovation in one of the following three ways:

1. Hit the VOTE UP button: Top left of each page (Not available for IE users)
2. Trigger a Reaction: Re-Tweet, Like on Facebook, etc.
3. Leave a Comment: Share the love!

To check out the Anthill SMART 100 Readers’ Choice winner for 2010, click here.