Three hundred and sixty-four students and 94 teams competed in the Business Scholars Innovation Showcase on Friday, April 12, 2019, in Lassonde Studios at the University of Utah. Each of the teams consisted of first-year students in the Business Scholars program at the David Eccles School of Business. The teams spent months developing product ideas before competing at the showcase for prizes including Best Idea, Best Pitch, Best Prototype and Best Branding.
The Best Idea Award went to Nurse’s Assistant. The team includes students Rubie Barrigar, Tyler Cowley, Kathyryn Larson and Stephen Grant.
“Our idea is an IV tube organizer,” Grant said. “Nurses have a really hard time when they are working with a lot of different IV tubes with applying different medications and tracking the right tubes to the correct bag. Our organizer helps cut down on time management as well as errors.”
All of the teams learned valuable lessons about creating a new product, finding a problem and developing an idea by participating in the program.
“We learned a lot about how business works as well as that it is a lot of little issues that are easy to solve,” Grant said.
Other top teams included: Best Prototype winner Unlock U (Ainu Kaufusi, Mason Parker, Brian Adler, Kaden Hendrickson), Best Pitch winner Slip ‘N Grip (Zoey Platt, Anders Jorgensen, Beau Thistle, Brenda Garcia) and Best Branding winner Trail Buddy (Kobe Davis, Ashley Walsh, John Scherer, Brian Pham).
The public and campus community was invited to attend the Innovation Showcase and judge the teams. Judges included industry experts, faculty members, recent graduates and other students.
The Business Scholars program at the University of Utah‘s David Eccles School of Business gives high-achieving students an honors-level introduction to the various business disciplines. With an emphasis on experiential learning, Business Scholars work with top faculty members to explore the challenges facing companies in marketing, entrepreneurship, accounting, finance, data analytics and management.
Business Scholars have the unique opportunity to travel regionally and internationally to meet and interact with business leaders from the companies that they study. Business Scholars can take Honors and Business Scholars specific courses, ensuring smaller class sizes and a more personalized experience.
Learn more about the Business Scholars program here: eccles.utah.edu/students/business-scholars/.
Best Idea winner Nurse’s Assistant developed a tool to organize IVs.
Photo Gallery
Below is a photo gallery from the 2019 event. Find more images on Facebook here.
