Posted on November 29, 2012 by KC Scharnberg, Public Affairs Specialist
Six University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) teams comprised of business and engineering students will compete for $100,000 in cash and business-related services at the $100,000 Student Technology Venture Competition, hosted by the UTSA Center for Innovation and Technology Entrepreneurship (CITE) on Saturday, December 1. Competitors will be scored on the viability of their proprietary new technologies and the business plans they developed to market those technologies.
UTSA’s $100,000 Student Technology Venture Competition is scheduled from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday, December 1 in the Lecture Hall of the McKinney Humanities Building (MH 2.01.10) on the UTSA Main Campus. The event is free and open to the public.
Held semi-annually, the $100,000 tech competition at UTSA offers the largest award of all undergraduate business planning competitions in the nation. The competitors will offer new technologies poised to enhance the health care, fitness, safety, manufacturing and retail industries.
“This tech start-up competition is just one of the incredible opportunities that UTSA’s entrepreneurial students have that show them how they can turn their ideas into real products on the market,” said Cory Hallam, director of CITE. “It is an exciting thing to be able to showcase and foster the work of our future industry leaders.”
Members of the Harvard Business School Club of San Antonio have mentored the teams, which will be judged by local academic, business and entrepreneurial experts on their technology, business plan and presentation. At the close of the daylong competition, the winning teams will have the opportunity to pitch their companies to potential investors. In addition to a cash prize, the winning teams will receive consulting services, marketing services, office space and other benefits to support them in getting their projects off the ground.
UTSA established the competition in 2007 when it observed that its engineering students were developing new technologies and its business students were writing business plans, but neither group of students continued their efforts beyond turning in their projects for a grade. With the competition in place, UTSA’s students are now developing marketable technologies and forming viable new companies based on those technologies.
UTSA’s $100,000 New Technology Venture Competition is sponsored by the Texas Research & Technology Foundation, Cox | Smith, the Harvard Business School Club of San Antonio, the San Antonio Technology Center, Startech, Rackspace and the UTSA Colleges of Business and Engineering.
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Schedule
9 a.m.-noon Project Viewing & Judging / Interaction with Teams (Open to Public)
Noon-12:30 p.m. Lunch
12:30-2:30 p.m. Competition
2:30-3 p.m. Awards & Networking Reception
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Competitors
Gear Flux offers an automatic transmission that can be added to a gear bicycle in order to display distance, fat and calorie burn rate much like one sees on a stationary bicycle in the gym. Student team includes Youssef El-Hage, John Garcia, Hugo Morales and David Zuazua.
Intuitive Laparoscopic System offers a way for a surgeon to cool a kidney to the temperature proven to be the safest to prevent damage while performing kidney surgery. Student team includes Richard Canty, Shelbi Chrislip, Adam Daufen, Luis Davila, Justin Ernest, Duncan Hughes and Warren Norket.
Jack Rabbit is a remote control lift that allows one person to move an immobilized automobile from one end of a mechanic shop to another. Student team includes Justin Ernst, Brooke Foret, David Hughes, Luke Walker and Jared Wills.
Minesweep offers rescuers a way of finding trapped miners in the fastest and most efficient manner through a specialized location tracking system that focuses on people showing signs of distress. Student team includes Christopher Butterfield, Frankie Cruz, Richard Downs, Albert Esparanza, Carlos Rodriguez, Joshua Taylor and Phal Wright.
The RowdySim 240 is a motion gaming chair that can be used with computer-simulated games. Student team includes Josh Bellows, Radford Byerly, Chase Chapman, Breanna Oliver and Igor Popov.
Wind Hawk is a mechanism that will aid golfers in predicting distance and best angle to a hole by combining live weather (temperature and humidity) with wind speed and direction. Student team includes Tanner Atherton, Robert Jimenez and Keedra Kendall.
Wendy Frost—
Please send your comments to: wendy.frost@utsa.edu
— KC Scharnberg, Public Affairs Specialist
