Celebrity MC’s: Faith Salie
Judges:
Laurence Vigeant-Langlois, Managing Director at AE Industrial Partners
Jim Fritz, Former Senior Advisor, Office of Technology Transitions, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)
Sri Divakaruni, United Technologies Corporation, Vice President of Innovation Business Development, Rhizome Network
Sizzle Reel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-h-EGPAjeiM
Full Show Video: https://youtu.be/d_NYXhMG7Hw?si=NDabtqywo4tajC9z
Photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/accinventureprize
Student Teams
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BC | Clemson | Duke | FSU | GATech | Louisville | Miami | UNC | ND | Pitt | Syracuse | WF
2023
Host University: Florida State University
Final Round: Thursday, March 30
Boston College - Spore by Vitaliti
People’s Choice voting text “BC”
Our product, Spore, is an at home mold spore detector which automatically and continuously tests for mold spores in the environment.
Vitaliti is a company founded by three women, who share a passion for aiming to better the lives of others. We hope to spark that same passion in others. With continuous changes to our external environment, we must adopt new processes and integrate technologies into our everyday lives to enhance our overall well-being. Vitaliti believes human health should not be a privilege but a norm. Our first project in support of this guiding principle seeks to address one aspect of air quality and safety. Our vision is to develop and produce an effective, in-home mold detection device that is affordable and accessible to the average consumer — this is the start of Spore. By focusing on the detection of mold, we hope to address the situation before it develops into an unsafe environment, ultimately preserving users’ health and well-being and saving users’ time and money.
Student Entrepreneurs
Zarah Lakhani
Applied Psychology and Transformative Education with a Minor in Management and Leadership
Andrea Crewe
Applied Psychology and Human Development with minors in Management and Leadership and Design-Thinking and Innovation
Lindsey Dotson
Industrial Design
Clemson University - The Better Board
People’s Choice voting text “Clemson”
The Better Board is a size-convertible emergency transport backboard that restrains patients after a spinal injury.
Our product makes prehospital transport safer for patients that are too large for the conventional backboards that are currently used. Right now, patients that are over 6 feet tall or obese often have their legs or shoulders dangling off the sides of the restraint board. This prevents their spine from being stabilized and puts them at risk for permanent neurological damage. The Better Board has created a product that serves to support these patients and restrain them safely, using equipment that EMS workers are already familiar with. The Better Board was invented as part of a senior design program at Clemson University by Ellie Hatcher, Pramita Suresh, Haley Swank, and Molly Turk. All four of them are seniors in the undergraduate Bioengineering program. Their academic backgrounds and diverse research experiences have made them a tight-knit team of critical thinkers. The Better Board is also advised by faculty of the Bioengineering department and consulted on by two clinicians from the emergency department at Prisma Health. The Better Board team is poised to integrate this device into EMS departments everywhere, and make prehospital transport safer for patients of all sizes.
Student Entrepreneurs
Molly Turk
Bioengineering
Ellie Hatcher
Bioengineering
Pramita Suresh
Bioengineering
Haley Swank
Bioengineering
Duke University - SaveOr
People’s Choice voting text “Duke”
SaveOr is an easy-to-use software as a service platform to help families document and manage the ownership, history, and transfer of their tangible personal property for estate planning purposes.
Everyone has tangible personal property throughout their home with varying emotional and economic value and history, which is not documented. Transferring or disposing of the property involves the owner and one or multiple possible recipients who may have inconsistent wishes. People neglect to plan out to whom they desire to give their treasured goods. A Personal Property Memorandum is an opportunity separate from the will to share your wishes, but it is often neglected when someone creates their estate planning documents. In some circumstances, its absence can destroy family harmony as siblings with different desires and interpretations of their deceased parents’ wishes fight over family treasures. SaveOr is an easy-to-use Software as a Service platform for families to document and manage their tangible personal property for estate planning purposes. Our app and website allow a user to take photos of their cherished property, tell an item’s story, and then collaborate with their family to determine a recipient for the item. SaveOr allows users to sort and categorize their property to ensure cherished goods are correctly transferred and random knick-knacks are sold or donated to charity. At the end of the process, SaveOr gives you a PDF export, which by following our advisory process, can turn someone’s last wishes into a binding Personal Property Memorandum.
Student Entrepreneurs
Matthew Scola
Economics
Joseph Lu
Computer Science
Johnny Pesavento
Computer Science
Florida State University - extraBREATH
People’s Choice voting text “FSU”
extraBREATH is revolutionizing ventilator technology by creating a device to treat patients with severe lung injuries while eliminating the need for medical sedation and its negative side effects
We are primarily targeting patients with lung injuries causing fluid buildup. The fluid stems from lung injuries, such as COVID-19. Our non-invasive device uses a proprietary oscillating mechanism to remove fluid from a patient’s lungs. Because we utilize the CPAP function of a conventional ventilator, extraBREATH is easily compatible with existing forms of care. The inspiration for the device stemmed from the need for improved alternatives to existing high frequency ventilator technology during the COVID-19 pandemic. Currently, patients using high frequency ventilators must be medically sedated during treatment, which negates the benefits of high frequency treatment. Our design allows patients to be awake during treatment which will provide shorter treatment times and higher success rates. extraBREATH is excited to bring our project to market. The team’s goal is to save lives through improving patient care and shortening treatment times. We are supported by Mayo Clinic with their full array of advisors, with technical advice from engineers and medical experts and business advice from financial experts and legal counsel. Clearly, extraBREATH is ready, rather, we are eager, to take our design to the next level and serve both patients and medical personnel worldwide.
Student Entrepreneurs
Michael Romega
Mechanical Engineering
Kristine Villarino
Mechanical Engineering
Andrew Burkhardt
Mechanical Engineering
Caleb Ward
Mechanical Engineering
Max McCammon
Mechanical Engineering
Georgia Institute of Technology - Pulse Oxi-Mates
People’s Choice voting text “GATech”
A sublingual pulse oximeter designed for more accurate measurements of oxygen saturation in patients of all skin tones to address the racial health disparity caused by the failures of current devices.
Pulse Oximeters are handy devices that use light to measure a patient’s blood oxygen saturation, which helps to determine the functionality of a patient’s respiratory system and make care decisions. During the worst times of the COVID-19 pandemic, these devices were one of the few diagnostic tools that could help clinicians determine who desperately needed a hospital bed, of which there were very few, and who didn’t. However, these devices have been proven to read a healthy oxygen saturation in patients of darker skin tone, who in reality had dangerously low saturations, more than three times as often as they do in white patients. This device failure has led to improper care, wrongful dismissal, and eventual death of an indeterminable number of patients around the world, primarily those from racial and ethnic minority groups who are already at an increased risk during pandemics such as this. Pulse Oxi-Mates Sublingual Pulse Oximeter utilizes the broadly used infrared and red-light absorption mechanism for measuring oxygen saturation, similar to the current fingertip pulse oximeters, but instead targets the sublingual region. By reading oxygen saturation under the tongue rather than on the finger, melanin is fully eliminated as a variable, making the device accurate for all patients regardless of skin tone. The sublingual approach also boasts high vascularization and consistent temperature eliminating other variables that also contribute to erroneous readings in fingertip pulse oximeters, such as poor perfusion, cold hands, and obstructions like fingernail polish.
Student Entrepreneurs
Allie Barone
Biomedical Engineering
Giuliane Fuzetto Paschoal
Biomedical Engineering
Hirschel Nambiar
Biomedical Engineering
Marshall Nambiar
Biomedical Engineering
University of Louisville - Mochi Dog Dessert
People’s Choice voting text “Louisville”
Introducing Mochi Dog - an Asian-inspired dessert business specializing in mochi donuts.
Currently, in most US cities, there is a disproportionately low amount of Asian dessert cuisine available to the sizeable Asian American population. Mochi Dog's mission is to address this problem by bringing a touch of traditional Asian culture to the world of desserts. Our mochi donuts are soft, chewy, and have a texture unlike any other doughnut. They are gluten-friendly and nut-free, making them suitable for a wide range of dietary requirements. In the future completely vegan and gluten mochi donuts will be introduce so everyone regardless of allergies can enjoy them! What sets Mochi Dog apart from other dessert businesses is our commitment to creating a unique and memorable experience for our customers. Our goal is to create a space where customers can indulge in a sweet and satisfying treat and simultaneously share their love for Asian culture.
Student Entrepreneurs
David Tang
Business, computer information system, triple track in web dev, cyber security and business process management Minor: Entrepreneurship
Joseph Nguyen
Computer science- minor Entrepreneurship
University of Miami - AudiSee
People’s Choice voting text “Miami”
Dynamic Sonification Device for Real Time Blind Navigation
AudiSee is a navigation tool for people who are blind or visually impaired, allowing users to confidently navigate the world on their own. Like bats using echolocation to understand their environment in the dark, AudiSee dynamically translates the location of objects in front of a person into audio cues, forming a mental map of their surroundings. It’s helpful to understand AudiSee as a “translator”, and vision as a “language” the blind do not speak. AudiSee translates visual information into a language that can be understood by people without functioning eyes. The device attaches at the waist, like a belt buckle, with LiDAR sensors obtaining 3D information to relay to the user through a speaker or headphones.
Student Entrepreneurs
Sergio Ganchala
Biomedical Engineering
Mac Clifton
Biomedical Engineering
Vivien Dominick
Biomedical Engineering
Courtney Carduner
Biomedical Engineering
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill - Pink STREAM
People’s Choice voting text “UNC”
Pink STREAM is a nonprofit organization to educate and empower K-12 girls in STREAM (Science, Technology, Robotics, Engineering, Arts, Math)
Girls and women are systematically excluded from STEM throughout their education, limiting their access, preparation and opportunities to pursue these fields. The male-oriented educational settings, content, and environments for STEM education shape strong gender stereotypes from the early years of childhood. As a result, women think they do not belong in STEM fields, feel insecure about their abilities, and lack confidence. Pink STREAM is a nonprofit organization with a mission to educate and empower young women in STREAM (Science, Technology, Robotics, Engineering, Arts, Math). We design and deliver educational programs on STEM topics that are shaping the future: robotics, coding, electronics, artificial intelligence, and virtual reality. Our curriculums are specifically designed for young women, changing the perspective with women-oriented content. The classes are taught by women for women, creating a sisterhood in the classroom around STEM. Pink STREAM has impacted over 1,200 students’ journeys in STREAM since 2018. As a collective impact organization, we partnered with 15+ organizations around the world, hosting programs in many communities. Our work has been showcased in 20+ news articles and received 12 awards.
Student Entrepreneur
Rida Bayraktar
Computer Science
University of Notre Dame - LifeDrive
People’s Choice voting text “ND”
LifeDrive is a suite of alternative wheelchair control solutions, including eye, voice, and mobile joystick control, that allow individuals to control their power wheelchairs regardless of need or stage of disease progression.
LifeDrive creates adaptive technology for people with disabilities, empowering them to greater independence through CRT power wheelchair control even if their needs change. These alternative drive solutions enable them to safely control a wheelchair with eye, voice, or mobile joystick applications. In addition to driving, LifeDrive apps allow them to turn their chairs on and off, fully adjust seating position, and change settings like speed, driving profile, and lights. The LifeDrive solution includes a hardware device which is a “bridge” between a wheelchair and an eye gaze system or mobile phone. Eye gaze systems running on Windows and Apple systems use EyeDrive software to control the wheelchair through eye control. Mobile phones use the CareDrive app to drive and adjust the wheelchair. In addition to CareDrive, iPhones can also use VoiceDrive to control the wheelchair through voice commands. The LifeDrive suite of applications can be used simultaneously; for example, a person can drive the wheelchair using eye gaze while a caregiver runs CareDrive on a mobile phone. By providing multiple options that give full access to control a CRT power wheelchair, LifeDrive allows for more flexibility and choice in a user’s ability to maintain their quality of life and independence.
Student Entrepreneur
John Sexton
Electrical Engineering
University of Pittsburgh - Underdog
People’s Choice voting text “Pitt”
Underdog is a community, movement, and online platform for college women+ teaching life-saving physical and emotional self defense through fun, educational events.
81% of women in college are survivors of sexual harassment, emotional abuse, or rape. And while universities invest in solutions to try to make campuses safer, they provide a false sense of security for colleges, not doing anything to reduce the number of sexual harassment and assault cases on campuses or make women feel confident and safe. Underdog is changing that. We’re a community space, movement, and online platform providing free and accessible self defense training and resources for college women+. Underdog is a physical and psychological self defense tool, creating community events for college students and Greek life organizations so women+ can learn preventative and reactive skills to help them in times of discomfort or danger, all while connecting and practicing with other strong women+. The events are centered around creating a fun, laid-back learning environment so women+ can learn everything from avoiding victim selection to using self defense tools effectively to what healthy relationship boundaries look like. Through the training events we’ve already hosted, we’re building a strong community of empowered and strong women+ that know how to keep themselves and others safe emotionally and physically. Whether it’s learning about avoiding emotional abuse, practicing self defense moves, sexual harassment deflection tactics, proper use of mace, or supporting a friend who’s a survivor, Underdog is the accessible and affordable solution to let women+ live freely and safely.
Syracuse University - Intervea
People’s Choice voting text “Syracuse”
An AI-powered patient medication compliance platform that can help avoid recurrent and preventable ER visits.
Over 700,000 patients are readmitted to the hospital each year due to prescription compliance problems like access, affordability, and the ability to get answers to questions about usage. These readmissions cost hospitals over $58B a year and are largely preventable, but happen because of a lack of continuity and follow-ups after discharge. Intervea is an AI powered solution that creates a unified platform between previously siloed components of the American healthcare system, lowering healthcare compliance barriers for patients of all demographics. Intervea provides three core services: facilitating prescription delivery so that patients can get their medication delivered the same day they are discharged; using AI to create a 24/7 SMS service that can answer patient questions about medication use with regular follow up to ensure that the patient is following treatment protocol; and accessing available patient records and prescription data to help prevent conflicting medication interactions. These innovations are all possible because of the recent advancements in NLP models and economical last-mile delivery services which can allow for a more cohesive patient experience.
Student Entrepreneur
Aidan Mickleburgh
Dual: Engineering and Computer Science, and Business Adminnistration
Wake Forest University - Validus
People’s Choice voting text “WF”
The Validus by The Syndicate™ helps alleviate challenges epilepsy patients face by allowing them to take the right pills in the right order at the right time through a revolutionary automatic medical dispenser and discrete organizer.
Young adults seek to live independently and take care of themselves – emotionally, physically, and financially. Yet, for individuals with epilepsy, living independently places greater importance on self-monitoring and adherence to medication. According to the CDC, 3 million Americans and 70 million patients worldwide have epilepsy. Adherence to antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) is essential for patients as it is the pillar to effective antiepileptic therapy and improvement of the quality of life. However, 50% of all epilepsy patients forget to take their medication monthly. Currently, only expensive benchtop devices, Ziploc bags, embarrassing phone alarms, and cumbersome generic organizers exist for medication intake. The Syndicate’s™ close ties with epilepsy patients prompted the development of Validus. The primary goal is to minimize medication disruptions in this overlooked demographic: 15 to 35 aged individuals with focal and generalized epilepsy. The Validus by The Syndicate™ is a three part system consisting of: The Cube, the Puck, and the HydroSyn. The separate elements seamlessly work together to create a unique medicinal management system. The Validus system accurately delivers medications for patients who take 9-15 medications daily based on a three-day cycle into a smart medicine holder, the Puck. The Puck attaches to the HydroSyn, a smart water bottle that alerts via mobile notification and vibration for medication intake. Validus' end goal is to promote pill adherence, decrease the likelihood of seizures while fostering a more autonomous way of life. Validus intends to eventually scale beyond the epilepsy community to reduce individual healthcare expenditure and improve overall well-being.
Student Entrepreneurs
Sebastian Pauli
Mechanical Engineering
Gwenyth Gorfin
Engineering
Christian Wing
Engineering
Joe Weaver
Engineering
