Three Brown Teams Named Finalists in Rhode Island Business Plan Competition

Three Brown teams, all with connections to the School of Engineering, were named finalists at the 2012 Rhode Island Business Plan Competition. In total, 75 emerging entrepreneurs applied to the competition, and seven have been selected as finalists, including four in the entrepreneur track and three in the student track. All three of the finalists in the student track were from Brown and the School of Engineering.

One of the finalists, JCD Wind, was from Steve Petteruti’s Entrepreneurship I class and Entrepreneurship II classes, Engineering 1930G and Engineering 1930H. JCD Wind, included James McGinn ’12, a biomedical engineering concentrator, and Carli Wiesenfeld ’12, a commerce, organizations, and entrepreneurship (COE) concentrator. The company aims to make seamless, high strength lightweight carbon fiber turbine blades. McGinn is also a member of the men’s rugby team, and Wiesenfeld is a member of the women’s gymnastics team.

A group of four graduate students in the Program in Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship (PRIME) master’s degree program were also among the semifinalists. Solar4Cents included PRIME students Sean Pennino, Bhavuk Nagpal, Xiaotong 'Peter' Shan, and Meng 'Milo' Zhang. Solar4Cents is a manufacturing company that aims to produce low-cost, thin-film copper, zinc, tin, and sulfur solar cells for solar panel manufacturers.

The third finalist in the student track is Overhead.fm, which includes Brown undergraduates Parker Wells '12, a mechanical engineering concentrator, and Stephen Hebson '12, an economics and history double concentrator. Their plan is to produce a web app to provide a customizable stream of music for in-store use, licensing music directly from the artists and labels.

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. Winners will be announced on May 3 at RIBX 2012 (Business Expo) at the Rhode Island Convention Center in Providence. The event is free and open to the public. All finalists will make brief presentations of their business plans at the Expo. Please go to www.ri-bizplan.com for more details. Established in 2000, the Rhode Island Business Plan Competition has awarded more than $1 million in prizes since its inception.

For the official RI Business plan release on the competition, please go to:
http://www.ri-bizplan.com/DefaultPermissions/2012FinalistsNamed/tabid/258/Default.aspx

For the Providence Business News story on the event, please go to: http://www.pbn.com/Biz-plan-competition-names-finalists,67143?category_id=27&sub_type=stories,packages

Five Brown Teams Named Semifinalists in Rhode Island Business Plan Competition

Five Brown teams, including three with connections to the School of Engineering, were named semifinalists at the 2012 Rhode Island Business Plan Competition. In total, 75 emerging entrepreneurs applied to the competition, and 13 were selected as semifinalists, including seven in the entrepreneur track and six in the student track. Five of the six semifinalists in the student track were from Brown, including three teams from the School of Engineering.

Two teams from Steve Petteruti’s Entrepreneurship I class and Entrepreneurship II classes, Engineering 1930G and Engineering 1930H, were among the semifinalists. JCD Wind, included James McGinn ’12, a biomedical engineering concentrator, and Carli Wiesenfeld ’12, a commerce, organizations, and entrepreneurship (COE) concentrator. The company aims to make seamless, high strength lightweight carbon fiber turbine blades. McGinn is also a member of the men’s rugby team, and Wiesenfeld is a member of the women’s gymnastics team.

Another semifinalist was CityBase Security, which included Julianne Bishop ’12 and Joschka Tryba ’12, who are both COE concentrators. Their company hopes to provide a map-based platform that will integrate communication and information systems for both emergency responders and public reporting of incidents/crimes.

A group of four graduate students in the Program in Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship (PRIME) master’s degree program were also among the semifinalists. Solar4Cents included PRIME students Sean Pennino, Bhavuk Nagpal, Xiaotong 'Peter' Shan, and Meng 'Milo' Zhang. Solar4Cents is a manufacturing company that aims to produce low-cost, thin-film copper, zinc, tin, and sulfur solar cells for solar panel manufacturers.

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. Winners will be announced on May 3. Please go to www.ri-bizplan.com for more details. Established in 2000, the Rhode Island Business Plan Competition has awarded more than $1 million in prizes since its inception.

For the official RI Business plan release on the competition, please go to: http://www.ri-bizplan.com/DefaultPermissions/SemifinalistsNamed/tabid/257/Default.aspx

For the Providence Business News story on the event, please go to: http://www.pbn.com/Biz-plan-competition-names-semi-finalists,66767?category_id=27&sub_type=stories,packages

For the GoLocalProv.com story, please go to: http://www.golocalprov.com/business/new-ri-business-plan-competition-2012-names-semi-finalists/

Four Brown Students Among 16 Semifinalists in RI Business Plan Competition

A record number of people vying for a record prize pot of more than $250,000 applied to the 2011 Rhode Island Business Plan Competition, and 16 of them have been named semi-finalists, including three Brown University students and one alumnus. 

The four semifinalists with Brown engineering and entrepreneurship connections were among seven semifinalists in the student track of the competition. They included HnC Products led by principal applicant Margaret Watson '11. Her idea is to create a personal beverage container that can heat and cool 20 ounces between 150 and 35 degrees Fahrenheit with the flip of a switch. HnC (which stands for hot and cold) grew out of an idea from Professor Eric Suuberg's entrepreneurship class in which Watson and six other undergraduates have been working on a way to improve the taste of food eaten by astronauts who don't have access to refrigeration in space. The device uses compact thermoelectric technology, and has the potential to redefine the beverage market.

Two students from the Program in Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship (PRIME), Sara Huebscher '10 ScM '11 and Rachel Decker ScM'11 were also among the semifinalists. Decker's business plan is for PRIME Omega-3, a company which will produce and sell high quality omega-3 fish oil supplements using a safe proprietary chromatography technique. Huebscher's plan is for Privicare, which will provide at-home diagnostic devices for common infections and diseases.

Dan Aziz '11 presented a business plan for PriWater, which is developing a prenatal beverage supplement to reduce birth defects and mitigate common complications of pregnancy.

The 103 business proposals submitted this year represent a 69% increase over the number of applications received last year. To receive prizes, which will be awarded to all finalists and winners, applicants must agree to establish or continue operations in Rhode Island.


Providence Business News Release:
http://www.pbn.com/RI-Business-Plan-Competition-names-16-semi-finalists,57199

RI Business Plan Competition 2011 Release:
http://www.ri-bizplan.com/News/SemifinalistsAnnounced/tabid/237/Default.aspx

Rachel Decker Accepted into Entrepreneurial Fellows Program at Slater Technology Fund

Rachel Decker ScM '11, a current Program in Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship (PRIME) master's degree student, was just accepted into the Rhode Island National Science Foundation’s Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (NSF EPSCoR) Entrepreneurial Fellows Program at the Slater Technology Fund.

A collaboration initiated in 2008 between Slater and the Rhode Island NSF EPSCoR, the program is designed to encourage entrepreneurship in the life sciences and biotechnology industries in Rhode Island by formally engaging local university students in the venture development process.

The Entrepreneurial Fellows Program is designed to attract and support a next generation of entrepreneurs in the life sciences industry by drawing students from the state’s colleges and universities into active participation in the process of venture development. Fellows engage in venture development by working with both academic researchers and industry professionals to understand the process of start-up formation, the development of business plans, the recruitment of entrepreneurial teams, the raising of early-stage capital, and the implementation of commercialization strategies. A goal of the program is to better inform students of the career development options available within the life sciences industry and to help integrate them into the knowledge-based economy in Rhode Island

The Entrepreneurial Fellows Program was launched in 2008-2009 with a group of seven students from Brown University and the University of Rhode Island. The pilot-scale program was continued in 2009-2010 with another six students from Brown and the University of Rhode Island.


About Rhode Island NSF EPSCoR
The Rhode Island National Science Foundation Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (Rhode Island NSF EPSCoR) builds partnerships between state government, institutions of higher education, and industry to effect lasting improvements in Rhode Island’s research infrastructure and national R&D competitiveness. Rhode Island NSF EPSCoR began in 2004, receiving federal funding commitments in excess of $26.75 million. For more information, visit www.riepscor.org.


About Slater Technology Fund
The Slater Technology Fund is a state-backed venture capital fund that invests in new ventures committed to basing and building their businesses in Rhode Island. Slater focuses its resources on the support of entrepreneurs who have the vision, leadership, and commitment to build substantial commercial enterprises. Slater typically invests at the inception stage in the development of a new venture, often based upon ideas and technologies originating in academic institutions and/or government research laboratories located within the region. In most cases, investments are premised upon the possibility of raising substantial follow-on financing, from venture capital investors or from strategic partners, with a view toward accelerating the generation of significant numbers of high-value, high-wage jobs over the intermediate to longer-term. For more information, visit www.slaterfund.com.

Brown Students Perform Well at Elevator Pitch Contest

Professor Eric Suuberg reports that students from his ENGN 1930G Entrepreneurship course performed well in the Rhode Island Business Plan Competition’s Elevator Pitch Contest this week. The event took place at the new R.I. Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and is considered a preview to the 2011 Rhode Island Business Plan Competition.

The winner, Theresa Raimondo '11, a chemical engineering concentrator, pitched an idea for a container that can quickly heat and cool beverages and won $300. The winning idea, called HnC (hot and cold), grew out of Suuberg's entrepreneurship class in which Raimondo and six other undergraduates have been working on a way to improve the taste of food eaten by astronauts, who don’t have access to refrigeration in space. Using compact thermoelectric technology, the beverage container they’re designing will heat or cool any drink between 50 and 150 degrees Fahrenheit within 90 seconds. The team is proposing to commercialize the product, which, it says, has the potential to redefine the beverage market. Raimondo made her 90-second pitch to a panel of judges and more than 200 audience members, and finished first in a field of 48 aspiring entrepreneurs.

In addition, students and alumni from the Program in Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship (PRIME) were presenting, and Joseph Ramos ScM'10 finished second. Ramos, of Axena Technologies in Providence, won $200 for his idea for a start-up company to combat health-care associated infections. Axena Technologies was founded by four graduates of Brown University's PRIME master's degree program. The biomedical engineering company utilizes a novel antibacterial technology to coat medical devices in order to mitigate healthcare-associated infections.

Dan Aziz '05, of PriWater in Providence, received $200 for his pitch for a drink to help pregnant women decrease the chance of certain birth defects.

Each of these teams is expected to do well in the actual business plan competition next semester.

RI Business Plan Competition Press Release:
http://www.ri-bizplan.com/News/Dec2010ElevatorPitchResults/tabid/231/Default.aspx

Providence Business New online edition that described the outcome of the competition: See http://www.pbn.com/Revolutionary-beverage-container-garners-top-prize-at-elevator-pitch-competition,54251

RI Elevator Pitch Competition

Professor Eric Suuberg reports that students from his ENGN 1930G Entrepreneurship course performed well in the Rhode Island Business Plan Competition’s Elevator Pitch Contest this week. The event took place at the new R.I. Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and is considered a preview to the 2010 Rhode Island Business Plan Competition.

The winner, Adam Leonard, a student in Suuberg's ENGN 1930G course is mentored by Dr. Jason Hack of the Brown Medical School in the development of a device to treat pediatric needle pain. In addition, there were three students presenting from the Program in Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship, and two students, Matt Doherty and Michael Kreitzer, were in the group of winners. Each of these teams is expected to do well in the actual business plan competition next semester.

More details are available here.

Providence Business New online edition that also described the outcome of the competition: See http://www.pbn.com/stories/46634.html