Proto Labs’ $100K Prize Aims to Help Makers

Proto Labs, the “world’s fastest custom manufacturer of prototype and low-volume parts” is awarding $100,000 worth of their services to help inventors and creators develop their projects:

In 2011 we will award $100,000 in Firstcut CNC machined and/or Protomold injection molded parts to somebody—or more than one person—with a cool idea for a product. (One or more winners will be selected each quarter.)

Winners can use their fully functional Firstcut and Protomold parts for prototyping, design iterations, testing, or even an initial production run—in short, helping move a project from pie-in-the-sky to product-on-the-shelf.