Competition Launches Entrepreneurs
The inaugural Columbia Venture Competition not only launches the start-ups for several students, it also marks an achievement for the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science.
The School established a minor in entrepreneurship in 2007 and the following year formed an advisory board of alumni and began expanding its staff. Coordinated by the Center for Technology, Innovation and Community Engagement (CTICE), the entrepreneurial spirit is thriving in the School, says Interim Dean Gerald A. Navratil.
“With this inaugural venture competition, an important milestone in establishing an entrepreneurship program in the school of engineering has been achieved,” he said after the competition finals today.
“We’re committed to making the Fu Foundation of Engineering and Applied Science a leading center for entrepreneurship. We recognize there is already an established entrepreneurial culture here at Columbia and we intend, as a school, to make it even stronger.”
The event, sponsored by the School and CTICE, is one step in that direction.
The six business proposals vying for a share of $25,000 in prize money ranged from Internet-based services like a music categorization device to green, in-the-field ideas like replacing aging motorcycle taxis with electric bikes in the Philippines.
The winning proposal was Contrail, a device for bicycles that leaves a trail of biodegradable chalk on the ground to gauge traffic patterns and mark trails. The goal is to raise awareness among drivers regarding safety issues and among cyclists and potential cyclists to increase bike riding in general.
The students behind the proposal – Pepin Gelardi, Shannon Hosey and Teresa Herrmann – won the $15,000 first-prize aimed at providing seed money for their project. Hosey and Herrmann are pictured above, from left to right, with Navratil and Rebecca Rodriguez, CTICE's Senior Associate Director of Engaged Entrepreneurship and coordinator of the event.
Judge Omar Jaffrey is one of three Entrepreneurship Advisory Board members who served as a judge and provided feedback and insight for the competition, which began two months ago at a Pitchfest with more than 40 competitors. After the finals this afternoon, Jaffrey, ’87 SEAS, said he was impressed with the students’ poise.
“It’s not easy to have an idea and put it out there and let people who are a lot older than you criticize you. …What I also find surprising is the breadth and depth of innovation and the confidence level they all had. These are such young people, it’s not like they’ve had 20 years of experience.”
The other Entrepreneurship Advisory Board members and judges include Alessandro Piol, SEAS ’79 and ’82, and Michael Bykovsky, SEAS ’83.
Final results:
- Second prize, $7,000 – Musically Intelligent Machines; Michael Mandel, PhD SEAS
- Third prize, $3,000 – Gradefund; Gregory Elek, Jonathan Beck and Michael Kopko, the People’s Choice winner at the Demo event on March 11
Other competitors:
- InternMatch; Andrew Maguire, Hannah Lee and Benjamin Wald
- Yuba International; Noel Lim and Jorge A. Garcia
- Universal Translate; Mohammed Altantawy, Karen Wu, Ahmed El Kholy and Joshua Gordon
