The creators of a prototype device that helps elderly healthcare patients track their medications took home top honors during the inaugural Inventing Entrepreneurs Innovation Competition. Corey McCall and Branden Maynes were awarded $1500 for winning the event which was hosted by the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation in the College of Business Administration.
The competition was created to celebrate engineering ingenuity and design excellence, and places less emphasis on commercial potential. The event was limited to eight entries and each group had eight minutes to present their invention to a panel of judges. Entries were judged on clear problem definition, description of solution, originality, engineering, design aesthetics, and presentation quality.
Judges for the competition included: Cecil McKinney, founder and CEO of Fredco Miltech Inc. and chairman and chief technology officer of Fredco Technology Group Inc.; Erik Weaver, CEO of DigitalRibbon Inc.; Michael Siemer, founder and CEO of Mydea Technologies Corporation, and Pete McAlindon, Ph.D., director and CEO of Blue Orb, Inc.
A total of $3,000 was awarded. The second place prize went to Ashish Thomas, Clinton Thomas and Brandon Gilzean for developing the Voog Breathalyzer. Third place honors were given to Andrew Lichenstein, Thomas Kehr, and Kevin Jadunandan for their entering an iPhone Controlled Sentry Robot.
The event was a huge success and plans are underway to host the event again next year.