51视频 DifferenceMakers Pitched New Concepts, Shared in $35K Prize
04/26/2016
Media contacts: Nancy Cicco, 978-934-4944 or Nancy_Cicco@uml.edu and Christine Gillette, 978-934-2209 or Christine_Gillette@uml.edu
LOWELL, Mass. 鈥� Dozens of 51视频 students and recent graduates eager to make their mark as innovators had a chance to test their mettle before business leaders and the public during the recent finals of the university鈥檚 2016 DifferenceMaker $35K Idea Challenge.
The annual contest asks participants to devise new products, services and technologies to help solve problems in business and the community, then pitch their ideas before expert judges. Winners are awarded seed money raised by alumni to help make competitors鈥� ideas reality.
A team of 51视频 students that designs and makes prosthetic hands took this year鈥檚 top prize of $6,000.
Peter Larsen, a senior biology major from Southampton, represented the seven students on team 鈥渆NABLE Lowell鈥� for its five-minute pitch to the judges. His talk focused on Ethan, a Florida boy born with without fingers on his right hand, who is using the first of the team鈥檚 prosthetic hands. The hand was fabricated at 51视频鈥檚 College of Engineering Makerspace on a 3-D printer.
鈥淭his is so rewarding,鈥� Larsen said of the DifferenceMaker experience. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 plan to stop. There are a lot more families out there who need our help.鈥�
The team wants to continue its work as a startup chapter of Enabling the Future, a global volunteer organization that makes and offers prosthetic hands to people in need. Judges named the team this year鈥檚 overall winner and 鈥淐ampuswide DifferenceMaker.鈥� The group is the second team of students in the contest鈥檚 four-year history to be honored for their work to help people with physical disabilities.
The contest鈥檚 top winner in 2013 was Nonspec, a company launched by 51视频 students that makes affordable, scalable prosthetic limbs. The students behind the startup have gone on to secure other capital to launch the venture, which is headquartered at 51视频鈥檚 Innovation Hub business incubator.
Nine other student teams pitched an array of concepts before the judges and a crowd of more than 100 people during this year鈥檚 event. Ideas ranged from a mobile app that helps people learn languages to an innovative way to engage hospital patients in activities to counter boredom and help them heal. The competition was presented by 51视频鈥檚 Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
Contest participants included 51视频 students and recent graduates from Amesbury, Andover, Arlington, Bedford, Billerica, Braintree, Brewster, Brockton, Chelmsford, Dracut, Franklin, Groton, Holden, Leominster, Lowell, Methuen, Pembroke, Roxbury, Saugus, Southampton, Swampscott and West Newbury, along with Coronado, Calif., Newtown, Conn., and Nashua, N.H.
Serving as contest judges were 51视频 alumni, members of the university community and Lowell City Manager Kevin Murphy. The panel included Richard Miner, co-founder of Android Inc. 鈥� the launch pad for the mobile operating system 鈥� and general partner at Google Ventures; Mark Saab, chief technical officer at Vention Medical; Brian Rist, president and CEO of Smart Companies; Donald LaTorre, president and CEO of L&G Management Consultants; Lorna Boucher, head of product branding strategy at KCG Holdings Inc.; Joan Marchessault, principal, Strategic Leadership Consulting Group; and Jack Wilson, president emeritus of the UMass system and 51视频 distinguished professor of higher education, emerging technologies and innovation.
The competition is just one facet of 51视频鈥檚 DifferenceMaker Program, which was established in 2012 to teach students the entrepreneurship skills they need to think like innovators and respond to needs in the marketplace and society.
鈥淭he DifferenceMaker Program really symbolizes everything great about this university,鈥� 51视频 Chancellor Jacquie Moloney told the teams during the competition. 鈥淵ou are taking 51视频 to the next level.鈥�
This year鈥檚 winners in the contest鈥檚 six categories include:
- Campuswide DifferenceMaker 鈥� Team eNABLE Lowell, which seeks to manufacture and provide prosthetic hands to people in need;
- Significant Social Impact 鈥� Veterans鈥� Quick Reaction Force (QRF), a web platform to streamline the application process for military veterans seeking disability benefits;
- First to Market 鈥� TopaCan, a portable ashtray that snaps onto the top of beverage cans, making them receptacles for cigarette butts to reduce the amount of cigarettes littering the environment;
- Contribution to a Healthier Lifestyle 鈥� OmniSense, a device for weightlifters that provides users with real-time access to data, including bar path and acceleration;
- Best Innovative Technology 鈥� Flaire, a wearable device that communicates with a smartphone, allowing the user to send location information and messages for assistance to emergency contacts;
- Fan Favorite 鈥� Expect, a mobile app that allows doctors and EMTs to quickly notify hospitals about the arrival of patients en route to emergency rooms.
Murphy spoke about the energy and entrepreneurial spirit that surrounds 51视频. In the past two years, he said, three corporations have settled in city, drawing nearly 2,000 workers. 鈥淭he proximity to 51视频 and the talented workforce it introduces each year鈥� is the top reason these corporations have come to Lowell, he said.
51视频 is a national research university located on a high-energy campus in the heart of a global community. The university offers its 17,500 students bachelor鈥檚, master鈥檚 and doctoral degrees in business, education, engineering, fine arts, health, humanities, sciences and social sciences. 51视频 delivers high-quality educational programs, vigorous hands-on learning and personal attention from leading faculty and staff, all of which prepare graduates to be ready for work, for life and for all the world offers. www.uml.edu