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Quadion LLC, d.b.a. Minnesota Rubber and Plastics, a provider of highly engineered elastomer and thermoplastic solutions, in Plymouth, Minnesota, launched its first-ever contest to celebrate young innovators in sixth through eight grades

The Minnesota Rubber & Plastics Young Innovators Contest encourages middle school students who are interested in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) to submit their creative solutions to help solve problems that are important to all of us — including environmental sustainability, water quality, transportation efficiency and healthcare.

“Today’s middle school students are the next generation of engineers, scientists, analysts, and innovators,” said Karthik Viswanathan, vice president of Product Development at Minnesota Rubber & Plastics. “We want to encourage students who are interested in STEM to continue to explore their passion and make a difference in the world by sharing their big ideas. There are no limits to the innovation and creativity in our own communities and we want to help foster the curiosity of middle school students in the tri-state area through the Young Innovators contest.”

Individual students or teams of up to eight students within 150 miles of the Minnesota Rubber & Plastics headquarters in Plymouth are eligible to enter. The student or team with the winning entry will visit Minnesota Rubber & Plastics’ brand new $7 million state-of-the-art Innovation Center in the Spring of 2022, where they’ll experience being an engineer for a day with some of the industry’s top materials scientists and engineers. In addition, the winning student or team’s school will receive $2,500 in STEM supplies.

Entries for the Young Innovators contest will be accepted online through Dec. 31. A committee of judges from the Minnesota Rubber & Plastics leadership team will select the winning entry based on the creativity, practicality and quality of the innovation in addition to the potential positive impact on the world.

The winner will be announced no later than March 1, 2022.

To submit entries and learn more about Minnesota Rubber & Plastics’ Young Innovators contest, please visit www.mnrubber.com/innovation-contest.