Students have a new distraction from classes and schoolwork thanks to the Ball State Innovation Center.
"Bunny Bash," a game similar to Whack-a-Mole, is one of three projects created by BSIC, which is looking to take student and faculty projects and make them available worldwide.
"It's about taking your ideas around the world and letting commerce do it," Wil Davis, interim president of BSIC, said. "I want to be an encourager. I want to be the link between ideas and communication and getting it around the world."
There are 30 active projects underway through BSIC, Stephanie Sisco, proposal manager at the Sponsored Programs Office, said. The projects have earned $527,000 from licensing over the past four years.
"Bunny Bash" is the first of several projects being created by students and faculty and made available through the Apple iTunes store for 99 cents.
BSIC is a nonprofit organization that fosters and facilitates innovation to enhance the regional economy. It works with the Sponsored Programs Office and the Tech Transfer Office to determine if intellectual property can and should be patented. A provisional patent costs around $2,000 to $3,000, Davis said, and a full patent can cost as much as $20,000.
Intellectual property includes certain artistic and creative works, commercial innovations and devices and technology developed by Ball State faculty, staff and students and others participating in Ball State programs, according to the Ball State website.
From his office at the Innovation Connector on White River Boulevard, Davis leads the efforts to license and patent material.
Before the ideas land on his desk, they're created and approved by faculty such as Jonathan Huer, director of Emerging Technologies and Media Development.
"The chances of making a great app are slim," Huer said. "If we can get this out, then people will start paying attention to Ball State."
"Balancing Chemical Equations" is almost ready to release, and two more are in the works: an application that compliments the AmGov textbook, written by Ball State professor Joseph Losco and professor emeritus Ralph Baker, and an graphing and networking app for math and computer science students.
All the apps are created with STEM in mind, computer science professor Jay Bagga said. STEM is a federal initiative to increase standardized test scores in science, technology, English and math. Ball State could receive federal grants if it can prove the apps have helped improve scores in these areas, Bagga said.
He said the next steps are to create applications that work with the Android and to start teaching about mobile programming to area high schools.
Frog Baby apps are created using campus resources, so they fall under the Intellectual Property policy, which means that Ball State owns the copyright but students receive part of the profits.
Huer said he enjoys the challenge of finding new and innovative ways to use mobile devices.
"Because this is something new, there's no reason Ball State can't be at the front," Huer said. "I'm here to make sure that can happen."
Huer said the Digital Corps and Emerging Media Initiative focus on high quality work. It's not necessarily academic, and there's a high tolerance for failure.
"We'll see if it works. If not, that's fine. We have the flexibility to work with things," he said. "You learn a lot through failure."
At BSIC, Davis said he works mostly with faculty members who are hoping to license or patent a product. He's looking forward to working with students who want to commercialize their work too. If Ball State is interested in the idea, it often offers to provide resources and funding in return for rights to the property, a key stipulation of the intellectual property policy.
"At the end of the day, I believe people want to make a difference in the world with what they do," Davis said. "Together we have a chance to make a global impact."
Frog Baby Apps:
What - Non-academic applications made by Ball State students and staff
How to get them - The first app, Bunny Bash, costs 99 cents to download. Go to http://frogbabyapps.com/bunnybash/ and click the App Store button.
How Frog Baby Apps' profits are distributed:
1/3 - author of app
1/3 - department associated with the development
1/3 - a fund that supports intellectual property at Ball State
Other Frog Baby apps in the works:
Balancing Chemical Equations - Get points for balancing equations at various levels of difficulty
AMGOV - Accompanies the Am Gov textbook written by Ball State professor Joseph Losco and professor emeritus Ralph Baker. This app offers quizzes and daily polls.
Graphing and networking - For junior and senior math and computer science majors, this app is for advanced college courses.
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