The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871

The Daily Illini

The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871

The Daily Illini

The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871

The Daily Illini

The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871

The Daily Illini

    Students present product ideas at entrepreneur competition

    Five teams were chosen as winners of an academic competition looking for student created inventions.

    The Technology Entrepreneur Center held a competition called “I2P (Idea to Product) Campus Round” on Thursday at the Activities and Recreation Center. Six judge panelists chose five winners among 10 students who presented their own innovative idea: Sumant Yerramilly, Ryan Benton, Daniel Knipmeyer and Andrew Naber, Carolyn Ratcliffe, Ryan Clark and Ashton Clark. Ryan Clark and Ashton Clark presented their online ticketing system “UTicketIt,” which is a management and registration company that enables individuals to sell and buy tickets online.

    “We are becoming frustrated with the ticket buying process on campus,” Ashton Clark said.

    The senior in Business complained about the terribly long process to buy tickets on campus, saying, “what if we would be able to make this online? We can make it so easy.”

    Alan R. Singleton, one of the judges, said that the students presented the wide range of very innovative business ideas.

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    “I think it’s encouraging students’ innovation, ideas to keep them simple. They are allowed to expand their plan for business concepts,” Singleton said.

    Singleton called the rules of the competition simple.

    “The rules that we had are four minutes to present, the presenters couldn’t use any AV or any electrical equipment whatsoever. They could use only white boards and markers, and up to two people present in each group,” Cassandra Clark, marketing assistant of Technology Entrepreneur Center said.

    “I was nervous,” said Daniel Knipmeyer, senior in Engineering.

    Andrew Naber, also a senior in Engineering, said, “We practiced a lot, practiced every second of (the) performance … it was the hardest part to cut it out to be in four minutes.”

    The group of Knipmeyer and Naber gave a presentation about their idea, “Omega Medical Design.” They presented a model of a small bandage with micro needles.

    “With a small amount of blood, you can quickly diagnose a multitude of diseases by a color change on a surface of this bandage,” said Naber.

    Knipmeyer said that it has a potential to offer people cheap, quick and accurate diagnostic testing for people who cannot afford the expensive machines.

    “If you can go to a clinic care, you can get a test. But in rural parts of our country and developing nations, there’s no system and place for them to be tested in a quick manner, and that leads to over diagnosis,” Knipeyer said.

    “It’s not just for being into a competition,” Ashton Clark said.

    He thinks this contest has another meaning: that the students can get to know what other people are doing.

    “It would be great if we can take some ideas from other departments and bring them into research rather than just do of ourselves. There are so much talents on campus, but they are not tapped into each other,” Clark said.

    Clark said that this I2P Competition is the most popular and effective competition around campus.

    “It’s low barrier entry competition because everybody can apply without being an engineering major … (the possibility is) beyond the field of science. Some ideas are completely nonrelated to science, some are from the field of humanity,” Clark said.

    The five winning teams will go to the next round of competition hosted by Saint Louis University in March 2010.

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