Download Hi-Res Image • Team Purist won the School of Medicine award ($15,000) and the Tech Surge 1st place award ($10,000) during the UCI New Venture Competition. Team Purist won the School of Medicine award ($15,000) and the Tech Surge 1st place award ($10,000) during the UCI New Venture Competition. (Pictured from left) Hayley Young, New Venture program coordinator at UCI Applied Innovation; Purist team members: Daniel Dai (EMBA); Mikael Nilsson (Associate Professor, Chemical Engineering and Material Science); Kim Westerbeck (EMBA); Leila Safavi-Tehrani (postdoctoral scholar, Chemical Engineering and Material Science); and, Donald Magnuson (EMBA); and Senior Licensing Officer Doug Crawford from the Invention Transfer Group at UCI Applied Innovation.
Fifteen Teams Walk Away with more than $100,000 in cash and prizes following final round of UCI New Venture Competition
Irvine, CA - (May 16, 2017) - Forty-one teams competed in the final round of the 2017 New Venture Competition held Friday, May 12 at the UCI Paul Merage School of Business. Fifteen of those teams walked away with cash and prizes valued at more than $100,000. The event was hosted by the Beall Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship in collaboration with UCI Applied Innovation.Winners of the 2017 New Venture Competition included, by category:
Consumer Products
|
1st Place ($4,000) |
BrainCheck: A portable, user-friendly, non-invasive, brain computer interface that takes advantage of wireless technology and hardware filtering. Team Members: UCI Engineering and Material Sciences students Garvin Arellano, Tina Chan, Junghyun Kim, Jordan Samonte and Thomas Tran |
|
2nd Place ($1,500) |
Failsafe: A cell phone application platform that optimizes the chance of someone receiving help in threatening situations. Team members: Business Administration students Natalie Sweis and Jasmine Yu, and Political Science major Issa Sweis. |
Consumer Services
|
1st Place ($4,000) |
Memorlane: A collaborative photo sharing application service available on iOS devices. Team Members: Chemistry major Evan Schein, and Yocelyn Recinos |
|
2nd Place ($1,500) |
Eater Zone: Offers college students a taste of home by bringing authentic, popular, homemade style cuisines of different countries to campus Team Members: Helen Hu, Henry Chen, Informatics major Jonathan Kumamoto, Econ major Anna Zhang, and Chemistry major Angela Lao |
Business Products and Services
|
1st Place ($4,000) |
Element: B2B2C: An online e-commerce portal that automates the process between patient visit and product delivery. Team Members: Class of 2017 Fully Employed MBA students Simon Loo, Brianne Pena, Shifa Safeeq and Scott Winter. |
|
2nd Place ($1,500) |
COMPAS: Uses computer access times along with patient-to-room associations to produce a live view of patient flow. Team Members: UCI IS Client Services Employees and COMPAS co-inventors Curtis Hendrick and Michael Glover, Dr. Scott Ruskin from the UCI Medical Center, graduate students Aaron Soto and Don Magnuson, as well as UCI Applied Innovation Entrepreneur in Residence Stuart Mathews. |
Life Sciences
|
1st Place ($4,000) |
Venom-Aid: A broad-spectrum anti-venom material that sequesters a majority of the toxins found in snake venom. Team members: Nicole Chow, Full-Time MBA students Luana Okumura and Lisa Mae Dominia, and Jeffrey O’Brien, a graduate student in Chemistry |
|
2nd Place ($1,500) |
Salux Diagnostics: A technology that profoundly impacts the quality and efficiency of patient burn injury care. Team Members: UCI Biomedical Engineering students Dimple Patel, Eashani Sathialibgam, Akshita Agrawal, Shreya Akkenapally, Maaikee Pronda and Kevin Trieu |
School of Medicine
|
Award ($15,000) |
Purist: Provides radioactive ingredients to treat cancer using small-scale and localized nuclear reactors. Team Members: Leila Safavi-Tehrani, a graduate student in Chemical Engineering and Materials Science; Executive MBA students Kim Westerbeck, Donald Magnuson and Daniel Dai; UCI Associate Professor Mikael Nilsson from Chemical Engineering and Materials Science; and, UCI Professor Joyce Keyak from Radiological Science. |
Designing Solutions for Poverty Alleviation
|
1st Place ($10,000) |
Esqalate: A nonprofit, operates two sister web platforms aimed at providing low-income and working-class Americans with meaningful access to justice: Proboknow and Lowboknow Team Members: Chad Trainer and Ilja Goushcha; UCI Sociology student Joubin Khazaie; and UCI Biomedical Engineering student Mahan Naeim |
|
Runners Up ($5,000 each) |
Loy Loy, The Savings Game: The innovative financial education board game, ‘Loy Loy’, has been successfully pilot tested in Cambodia and the United States with both low-income communities and among stakeholders in policy and industry. It has proven to be a valuable interactive tool for teaching and testing financial inclusion solutions. The electronic version of Loy Loy, distributed worldwide to NGO partners, universities and governments, will enable better savings practices and a more complex understanding of the social and economic dynamics of poverty. Pure Game - Since its full-time inception as a not-for-profit, Pure Game has achieved social impact and community building in some of the toughest areas of Orange County by delivering life messages through sport activity. Pure Game is creating innovative, self-sustaining social impact that not only benefits the communities, but builds a healthy engaged workforce who can experience ongoing impact. It works to include all children and offers them the opportunity to enjoy learning life skills and build character traits in a fun and trusted environment. |
Tech Surge
|
1st Place ($10,000) |
Purist: Provides radioactive ingredients to treat cancer using small-scale and localized nuclear reactors. Team Members: Leila Safavi-Tehrani, a graduate student in Chemical Engineering and Materials Science; Executive MBA students Kim Westerbeck, Donald Magnuson and Daniel Dai; UCI Associate Professor Mikael Nilsson from Chemical Engineering and Materials Science; and, UCI Professor Joyce Keyak from Radiological Science. |
|
Runners Up ($7,500) |
APIC Diagnostics: A point-of-care diagnostic device that is non-invasive since it can analyze saliva, without the need for a blood sample. Team Members: Pravin Surana, Full-Time MBA; Anandkumar Surendrarao, from UCI’s Ecology & Evolutionary Biology department; Cyril Soliman, a Biomedical Engineering student; and Ishita Gulati who is enrolled in UCI’s Master of Science in Biotechnology Management. |
|
Honorable Mention ($2,500 each) |
Syntr Health Technologies: Developed an innovative approach to apply mechanical shear stress to enrich stem cells without the use of any chemical reagents or growth factors. Team Members: Ahmed Zobi, a Biomedical Engineering student; Jade Tassey, a Biological Sciences major; Beatrice Sun, a graduate student in the School of Medicine; Xiaolong Qiu, a Biomedical Engineering graduate student; Derek Banyard, and Biomedical Engineering students Justin Stovner and Hugo Salas NanoShield Biotix: Provides technology that reduces the risk of infection on medical devices from disease causing agents. Team Members: Graduate student Roger Sohn from Adm HC, Kate Xie, an Ophthalmology student; Andrew Schmerl; and, graduate students Elena Liang,; and, Rose Rosenzweig from Chemical Engineering and Materials Science |
| Outstanding Undergraduate Team ($1,000) |
Salux Diagnostics: A technology that profoundly impacts the quality and efficiency of patient burn injury care Team Members: UCI Biomedical Engineering students Dimple Patel, Eashani Sathialibgam, Akshita Agrawal, Shreya Akkenapally, Maaikee Pronda and Kevin Trieu |
Teams were judged by a panel of professionals made up of experienced investors, entrepreneurs, and senior business practitioners familiar with early stage companies. Teams were evaluated on the strength of their plan and overall presentation. Other evaluation factors included:
- Size and growth rate of the market addressed
- Likelihood that the team can create a sustainable competitive advantage
- Simplicity of the business model described
- Believability of the team’s vision and plan
Now in its 11th year the New Venture Competition, formerly the Business Plan Competition, was entirely restructured and redesigned based on feedback from students, judges and coaches, as well as the mission of the Beall Center, which is to provide hands-on opportunities for students to learn about the process of innovation and entrepreneurship. As a result, the competition boasts a broader variety of participants from schools, centers and institutions across UC Irvine and beyond.
Each of the teams who competed in the 2017 New Venture Competition was composed of current UCI students from schools and departments including: The Paul Merage School of Business, School of Social Sciences, Samueli School of Engineering, Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences, Claire Trevor School of the Arts, School of Medicine, Department of Chemistry, School of Education, and the School of Law. Faculty and community members participated as well.
2017 New Venture Competition sponsors include: Gold Level Sponsors – UCI Applied Innovation, UCI Blum Center for Poverty Alleviation, K5 Ventures, and The Portal. Silver Level Sponsors – Boeing, CB Capital Partners, Inc., Edwards, Stradling Attorneys at Law. Bronze Level Sponsors – UCI ANTrepreneur Center, Indi, Stack Tek, UCI Sustainability, UCI Claire Trevor School of the Arts, UCI Ayala School of Biological Sciences, and the UCI Division of Undergraduate Education.
About the Beall Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship
One of seven Centers of Excellence at UC Irvine’s Paul Merage School of Business, the Beall Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship was established to help business visionaries transfer their ideas into viable business opportunities, either in new ventures or within existing organizations. Students can engage with the Center through curricular programs offered including a Minor in Innovation and Entrepreneurship and a Certificate in Innovation and Entrepreneurship, or through programs like the New Venture Competition. Through leadership, education, and potential partnerships, the Center creates an environment that fosters a connection among world-class UC Irvine researchers, innovative visionaries, savvy business leaders, creative venture capitalists and pivotal business channels. This connection inspires innovation and entrepreneurship, and provides the hands-on opportunities for students to learn.
Forty-one teams competed in the final round of the 2017 New Venture Competition held Friday, May 12 at the UCI Paul Merage School of Business. Fifteen of those teams walked away with cash and prizes valued at more than $100,000. The event was hosted by the Beall Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship in collaboration with UCI Applied Innovation.Winners of the 2017 New Venture Competition included, by category:
Consumer Products
|
1st Place ($4,000) |
BrainCheck: A portable, user-friendly, non-invasive, brain computer interface that takes advantage of wireless technology and hardware filtering. Team Members: UCI Engineering and Material Sciences students Garvin Arellano, Tina Chan, Junghyun Kim, Jordan Samonte and Thomas Tran |
|
2nd Place ($1,500) |
Failsafe: A cell phone application platform that optimizes the chance of someone receiving help in threatening situations. Team members: Business Administration students Natalie Sweis and Jasmine Yu, and Political Science major Issa Sweis. |
Consumer Services
|
1st Place ($4,000) |
Memorlane: A collaborative photo sharing application service available on iOS devices. Team Members: Chemistry major Evan Schein, and Yocelyn Recinos |
|
2nd Place ($1,500) |
Eater Zone: Offers college students a taste of home by bringing authentic, popular, homemade style cuisines of different countries to campus Team Members: Helen Hu, Henry Chen, Informatics major Jonathan Kumamoto, Econ major Anna Zhang, and Chemistry major Angela Lao |
Business Products and Services
|
1st Place ($4,000) |
Element: B2B2C: An online e-commerce portal that automates the process between patient visit and product delivery. Team Members: Class of 2017 Fully Employed MBA students Simon Loo, Brianne Pena, Shifa Safeeq and Scott Winter. |
|
2nd Place ($1,500) |
COMPAS: Uses computer access times along with patient-to-room associations to produce a live view of patient flow. Team Members: Scott Ruskin and Donny Magnuson, UCI IS Client Services Employees Michael Glover and Curtis Hendrick, and graduate students Aaron Soto and Tam Dang |
Life Sciences
|
1st Place ($4,000) |
Venom-Aid: A broad-spectrum anti-venom material that sequesters a majority of the toxins found in snake venom. Team members: Nicole Chow, Full-Time MBA students Luana Okumura and Lisa Mae Dominia, and Jeffrey O’Brien, a graduate student in Chemistry |
|
2nd Place ($1,500) |
Salux Diagnostics: A technology that profoundly impacts the quality and efficiency of patient burn injury care. Team Members: UCI Biomedical Engineering students Dimple Patel, Eashani Sathialibgam, Akshita Agrawal, Shreya Akkenapally, Maaikee Pronda and Kevin Trieu |
School of Medicine
|
Award ($15,000) |
Purist: Provides radioactive ingredients to treat cancer using small-scale and localized nuclear reactors. Team Members: Leila Safavi-Tehrani, a graduate student in Chemical Engineering and Materials Science; Executive MBA students Kim Westerbeck, Donald Magnuson and Daniel Dai; UCI Associate Professor Mikael Nilsson from Chemical Engineering and Materials Science; and, UCI Professor Joyce Keyak from Radiological Science. |
Designing Solutions for Poverty Alleviation
|
1st Place ($10,000) |
Esqalate: A nonprofit, operates two sister web platforms aimed at providing low-income and working-class Americans with meaningful access to justice: Proboknow and Lowboknow Team Members: Chad Trainer and Ilja Goushcha; UCI Sociology student Joubin Khazaie; and UCI Biomedical Engineering student Mahan Naeim |
|
Runners Up ($5,000 each) |
Loy Loy, The Savings Game: The innovative financial education board game, ‘Loy Loy’, has been successfully pilot tested in Cambodia and the United States with both low-income communities and among stakeholders in policy and industry. It has proven to be a valuable interactive tool for teaching and testing financial inclusion solutions. The electronic version of Loy Loy, distributed worldwide to NGO partners, universities and governments, will enable better savings practices and a more complex understanding of the social and economic dynamics of poverty. Pure Game - Since its full-time inception as a not-for-profit, Pure Game has achieved social impact and community building in some of the toughest areas of Orange County by delivering life messages through sport activity. Pure Game is creating innovative, self-sustaining social impact that not only benefits the communities, but builds a healthy engaged workforce who can experience ongoing impact. It works to include all children and offers them the opportunity to enjoy learning life skills and build character traits in a fun and trusted environment. |
Tech Surge
|
1st Place ($10,000) |
Purist: Provides radioactive ingredients to treat cancer using small-scale and localized nuclear reactors. Team Members: Leila Safavi-Tehrani, a graduate student in Chemical Engineering and Materials Science; Executive MBA students Kim Westerbeck, Donald Magnuson and Daniel Dai; UCI Associate Professor Mikael Nilsson from Chemical Engineering and Materials Science; and, UCI Professor Joyce Keyak from Radiological Science. |
|
Runners Up ($7,500) |
APIC Diagnostics: A point-of-care diagnostic device that is non-invasive since it can analyze saliva, without the need for a blood sample. Team Members: Pravin Surana, Full-Time MBA; Anandkumar Surendrarao, from UCI’s Ecology & Evolutionary Biology department; Cyril Soliman, a Biomedical Engineering student; and Ishita Gulati who is enrolled in UCI’s Master of Science in Biotechnology Management. |
|
Honorable Mention ($2,500 each) |
Syntr Health Technologies: Developed an innovative approach to apply mechanical shear stress to enrich stem cells without the use of any chemical reagents or growth factors. Team Members: Ahmed Zobi, a Biomedical Engineering student; Jade Tassey, a Biological Sciences major; Beatrice Sun, a graduate student in the School of Medicine; Xiaolong Qiu, a Biomedical Engineering graduate student; Derek Banyard, and Biomedical Engineering students Justin Stovner and Hugo Salas NanoShield Biotix: Provides technology that reduces the risk of infection on medical devices from disease causing agents. Team Members: Graduate student Roger Sohn from Adm HC, Kate Xie, an Ophthalmology student; Andrew Schmerl; and, graduate students Elena Liang,; and, Rose Rosenzweig from Chemical Engineering and Materials Science |
|
Outstanding Undergraduate Team ($1,000) |
Salux Diagnostics: A technology that profoundly impacts the quality and efficiency of patient burn injury care Team Members: UCI Biomedical Engineering students Dimple Patel, Eashani Sathialibgam, Akshita Agrawal, Shreya Akkenapally, Maaikee Pronda and Kevin Trieu |
Teams were judged by a panel of professionals made up of experienced investors, entrepreneurs, and senior business practitioners familiar with early stage companies. Teams were evaluated on the strength of their plan and overall presentation. Other evaluation factors included:
- Size and growth rate of the market addressed
- Likelihood that the team can create a sustainable competitive advantage
- Simplicity of the business model described
- Believability of the team’s vision and plan
Now in its 11th year the New Venture Competition, formerly the Business Plan Competition, was entirely restructured and redesigned based on feedback from students, judges and coaches, as well as the mission of the Beall Center, which is to provide hands-on opportunities for students to learn about the process of innovation and entrepreneurship. As a result, the competition boasts a broader variety of participants from schools, centers and institutions across UC Irvine and beyond.
Each of the teams who competed in the 2017 New Venture Competition was composed of current UCI students from schools and departments including: The Paul Merage School of Business, School of Social Sciences, Samueli School of Engineering, Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences, Claire Trevor School of the Arts, School of Medicine, Department of Chemistry, School of Education, and the School of Law. Faculty and community members participated as well.
2017 New Venture Competition sponsors include: Gold Level Sponsors – UCI Applied Innovation, UCI Blum Center for Poverty Alleviation, K5 Ventures, and The Portal. Silver Level Sponsors – Boeing, CB Capital Partners, Inc., Edwards, Stradling Attorneys at Law. Bronze Level Sponsors – UCI ANTrepreneur Center, Indi, Stack Tek, UCI Sustainability, UCI Claire Trevor School of the Arts, UCI Ayala School of Biological Sciences, and the UCI Division of Undergraduate Education.
About the Beall Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship
One of seven Centers of Excellence at UC Irvine’s Paul Merage School of Business, the Beall Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship was established to help business visionaries transfer their ideas into viable business opportunities, either in new ventures or within existing organizations. Students can engage with the Center through curricular programs offered including a Minor in Innovation and Entrepreneurship and a Certificate in Innovation and Entrepreneurship, or through programs like the New Venture Competition. Through leadership, education, and potential partnerships, the Center creates an environment that fosters a connection among world-class UC Irvine researchers, innovative visionaries, savvy business leaders, creative venture capitalists and pivotal business channels. This connection inspires innovation and entrepreneurship, and provides the hands-on opportunities for students to learn.
About The Paul Merage School of Business
The Paul Merage School of Business at UC Irvine offers four dynamic MBA programs – plus PhD, specialty masters and undergraduate business degrees – that graduate world-ready business leaders with the exceptional ability to grow their organizations through strategic innovation, analytical decision-making, information technology and collaborative execution. While the Merage School is relatively young, it has quickly grown to consistently rank among the top five percent of all business programs worldwide through exceptional student recruitment, world-class faculty, a strong alumni network and close relationships with both individual business executives and global corporations.
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Associate Director of Communications
jrotheku@uci.edu
