Seven Brown University teams, all with connections to the School of Engineering, were named semifinalists at the 2013 Rhode Island Business Plan Competition. In total, 77 emerging entrepreneurs applied to the competition, and 15 were selected as semifinalists, including seven in the entrepreneur track and eight in the student track. Seven of the eight semifinalists in the student track were from Brown, including five teams from the School of Engineering's Program in Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship (PRIME) master's degree program.
The five semifinalist teams from the PRIME program included: Graphene Oxide Technologies, HMSolution, Optitrum, System X Cooling, and Triangulation.
Graphene Oxide Technologies is working on developing coatings that will enable high gas-barrier, biodegradable or recyclable plastics that support reduced use of preservatives while creating new avenues for shelf-appeal. Team members include Varsheeni Raghupathy, Chenyu Lin, Laurence Wattrus, and Xiaoyang Yang.
HMSolution plans to develop a cost-effective system that lowers arsenic concentration in household drinking water, without using chemicals, to meet federal requirements. The team includes Margaret Lengerich, Patpimol_Pichitphan, Nicha_Angsusingha, David Benhamou, and Yi Chun Chiang.
Optitrum is working on a handheld, non-invasive glucose meter to manage diabetes that utilizes a small saliva sample to determine glucose concentrations in the body almost instantaneously. The group consists of Jenny Yu, Lu Liu, Xinming Shi, and Jing Feng.
System X Cooling is working on a data center cooling system developed and patented by Raytheon embedded within the server rack. The group includes Rajasekaran_Sundaram, Wenyan_Yang, Donald_Kim, Scott_Linstone, Abhishek Patil, and Changjia Ge.
Triangulation is developing a ranging-system that provides accurate reference locations supplemented by an app on a tablet displaying electronic blueprints that links any position on site to within 2 cm on blueprints. Team members include Mor Regensberger, Gad Regensberger, Chris Whipple, and Siyang Wang.
One team from Steve Petteruti's Entrepreneurship II class, Engineering 1930H, was among the semifinalists. SEVA is working on a system that allows professional mariners, who otherwise cannot afford it, to receive up-to-date digital content broadcast to their ships. The team includes materials engineering concentrator Ilana Foni '13, business, entrepreneurship, and organizations concentrators Will Gasner '13 and Tim Kwak '13, and Mehves Tangum '13, who is concentrating in economics/engineering.
The seventh Brown semifinalist was Azavy, which is developing an online store for 3D printed goods that crowd-sources manufacturing, enabling consumers to buy products designed and 3D printed by users. The team has also been part of the Brown Venture Lab and Brown Entrepreneurship program and includes Tyler Benster '13 (applied mathematics-economics), Lucas Eggers '13 (physics), Mark Fischer, and Michael Anderson.
The contest will award more than $200,000 in prizes. In order to receive prizes, applicants must agree to establish or continue operations in Rhode Island. Established in 2000, the Rhode Island Business Plan Competition has awarded more than $1.2 million in prizes since its inception, and has been named one of the top 40 business plan competitions in the country.
Finalists will be selected later this month, and the winners will be announced May 14 at The Garage economic development event at the Rhode Island Convention Center in Providence, sponsored by the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce. All finalists will be invited to present their business plans at The Garage.
Date
April 12, 2013