Once again Bank Innovation is a proud media sponsor of Finovate, and Phil Ryan and I will be at this week’s fall event grading demos.

While attendees vote for best-in-show at the conclusion of the conference, we’ll be grading the demos on three factors:

• Cool Factor
• I Want It Factor
• Profit Potential

The Cool Factor will include an assessment of the technology. Did the startup conquer a particularly thorny IT challenge? Is the startup’s technology not just an application of existing technology, but a notable leap forward? And, of course, superficiality matters, so does it look neat?

The I Want It Factor is just that: an assessment of how badly I would want to use the technology. This goes to the overall utility of the app or service.

The all-important Profit Potential will be a grade of the app or service’s potential to make a killing.

We hope our coverage will be the start of much dialogue on Bank Innovation and at the #finovate hashtag for Twitter. You are all welcome to post your own scores for each startup — and to critique ours. See you at Finovate tomorrow!