For many student entrepreneurs at colleges across Utah, this is crunch-time. Participants in the techTITANS innovation competition, a division of the Utah Entrepreneur Series, were required to submit a three-page business idea summary combined with a 90-second video explaining their concept. Recently, 10 teams were selected from a total of 87 submissions to present their ideas in person to an investor-style panel of judges.
Submitting entries to techTITANS were 66 teams from the University of Utah, 8 from BYU, 4 from Weber State University and Westminster College, 2 from BYU and 1submission each from LDS Business College, Snow College and Dixie State College. From this pool of the top competitors, the judges will choose a winner, who receives $5,000, and runner-up, receiving $2,500.
More competitive than any previous techTITANS event, this year’s competition saw an increase of approximately 50-percent in the number of idea submissions over 2011.
“The quality of students and idea submissions get better every year,” said Jonathan Allen, co-chair of the Utah Entrepreneur Series. “This year it was extremely competitive narrowing the finalists with so many good submissions. We hope that many of the teams will take the feedback they received from techTITANS and enter into Opportunity Quest in November.”
The teams selected to compete in the second round of the competition are:
- 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:
- Ennis Henderson, Razor jet
- Williams Lee, HAL system
- Christopher Lynn, Solar Cells
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 are given the opportunity to build relationships with other like-minded individuals within the university and business community.
The Utah Entrepreneur Series is part of the Lassonde Entrepreneur Center. Learn more about techTITANS and the Utah Entrepreneur Series at www.ues.utah.edu.
