Six Ventures Advance to Innovation Challenge: The Final

Hosted by the Berthiaume Center for Entrepreneurship, the four-part Innovation Challenge continued with The Semifinal on Wednesday, February 27. In front of a panel of four judges, 15 student-led teams gave five-minute pitches describing their ventures and participated in a 10-minute Q&A session. The judges selected six teams to advance to Innovation Challenge: The Final, where $65,000 in seed money will be awarded.

Winners of Berthiaume Center’s “Best Pitch” prize at 2019 HackHer413, Bacteria Identifier: iSPY Bacilli, is a machine-trained model used to visualize, assess, and predict the morphology of a bacterial colony using a digital image. The venture team includes Anna Maria Miller, (microbiology and informatics), Jeng-Yu Chou (computer science) and Hayley Green (microbiology).

Deadeye, developed by Jake Lisauskas (accounting/sport management), Daniel Lannan (RPI, electrical engineering) and Matt Madden (Springfield College, sport management) is reinventing the way athletes train for their sport by offering a low-cost hardware unit that tracks the users every movement. Via a wireless connection to a smartphone app, Deadeye can provide targeted feedback while creating a sharing and social platform for athletes.

Led by Melissa Paciulli (PhD candidate, civil engineering) and Birdie Champ, DrivingMyADHD is an interactive, online, game-based framework and instruction to assist teens with ADHD to become better drivers and help parents track progress.

Let’s Talk About It: The Workshop Series for Students, presented by Ashley Olafsen (’18, BDIC) and Tom Leary (LARP) aims to provide relevant, trusted and meaningful wellness-related curriculum to schools and individuals, with a focus on mental health, self-esteem, consent, eating disorders, and relationships.

Biochemistry majors Griffin O’Driscoll, Mathew Mitchell, Joshua Mallon and Raquel Perry, with Thomas White (finance) and Andrew Romasco (BDIC, bioinformatics) pitched OrganXcide, a company that has developed revolutionary proteins that target the most pressing antibiotic-resistant bacteria with the potential to tackle some of the most dangerous bacterial diseases.

Created by George Ryan (chemistry, economics), Yizhuo Chen (chemical engineering), Kevin Cutinella (management) and Avi Benmayor (pre-engineering), Renovare, turning the simple bandage into a device that not only protects wounds but also heals them twice as fast without the use of drugs.

Judges: Lisa Ekus, Jeff Glassman, Bud Robertson, Larry Yusef

Sponsors: EY, The Heiser Family, Norman “Bud” Robertson, Kumar Ganapathy, Jeff Glassman, Darn It!, John & Sally Burke, PeoplesBank, Joe Suyemoto

Watch: https://youtu.be/joto2lummpc

Up Next: Innovation Challenge: The Final is set for Thursday, April 4. Each finalist will be awarded $1,000 and compete for $59,000