AdvanceCath’s Foley Catheter won the grand prize of $5,000 at the techTITANS final round recently at the University of Utah (the U). The product offers a new way to reduce urinary tract infections, which add billions of dollars of additional health care costs per year in the United States by preventing the growth of bacterial film on the surface of the device.
“I am very excited to have won, especially considering the level of competition. I can see many of the top-10 concepts turning into successful businesses. The techTITANS competition has helped to validate AdvanceCath and its potential, and the award money will enable us to continue development,” said Ryan O’Callaghan, team leader of AdvanceCath.
Runner-up in the competition was Clearview Laproscopic Sheath, winning $2,500, and the greenTITANS ecological innovation award went to Razor Jet.
The greenTITANS award recognizes the most eco-friendly innovations from the submission pool. Honorary awards, like greenTITANS are given at the competition’s discretion for entries that may have a major humanitarian impact, address broad consumer need, or embody characteristics of global importance.
Participants in the techTITANS innovation competition submitted a three-page business idea summary combined with a 90-second video explaining their concept. TechTITANS is a division of the Utah Entrepreneur Series, a series of three idea and business plan competitions hosted at the U and supported by the Lassonde Entrepreneur Center and the David Eccles School of Business.
The previous Saturday, ten teams were selected from eighty-seven separate submissions to present their ideas in person to an investor-style panel of judges. Submitting entries to techTITANS were 66 teams from the U, eight from BYU, four from Weber State University and Westminster College, two from Utah State University, and one submission each from LDS Business College, Snow College and Dixie State College.
Being the first of the three competitions in the Utah Entrepreneur Series, techTITANS encompasses the idea stage of creating a business. Students receive instruction in the idea-to-development process and compete with their peers for the best idea submission. Participants build relationships with like-minded individuals within the university and business community. Larger than any previous techTITANS event, this year’s competition saw an increase of approximately 40 percent in the number of idea submissions over 2011.
Joshua Hadley, co-chair of the Utah Entrepreneur Series, offered encouragement to future UES competitors: “As an entrepreneur you may have people tell you that you’re not going to be able to be successful, however going through the process of thinking through a business plan and receiving constructive feedback is priceless for any entrepreneur.”
Opportunity Quest, event number two in the Utah Entrepreneur Series, is currently open to business executive summary submissions. A cash prize of $5,000 will be awarded to the team judged to have presented the most plausible and promising executive summary. The first-place team is also automatically entered as a finalist in the Utah Entrepreneur Challenge, the final competition in the Series, sponsored by Zions Bank, which awards $40,000 to the most impressive comprehensive business plan. Secondary prizes will also be awarded including cash prizes of $3,000 and $2,000 for second and third place teams, respectively.
The teams selected to compete in the second round of the techTITANS are as follows:
- AdvanceCath University of Utah
- The SLYDER- A Novel Inhaler Spacer -University of Utah
- Cloud Credit -University of Utah
- HINS Laser Light Catheter – University of Utah
- Peek Bridal Boutique – University of Utah
- FIT Rectal Catheter – University of Utah
- ClearView Laparoscopic Sheath – University of Utah
- Sculptene – University of Utah
- Global Game Tracker – University of Utah
- Restaurant Machine – BYU
Additionally, the top three GreenTITANS clean technology ideas are as follow:
- Ennis Henderson, Razor jet
- Williams Lee, HAL system
- Christopher Lynn, Solar Cells
To learn more about techTITANS and the Utah Entrepreneur Series, visit www.ues.utah.edu.
