Tuesday, June 17, 2008
MIT-EF White Board Challenge Showcases Chicago-area Innovators
The MIT-EF White Board Challenge gives emerging companies and entrepreneurs in the Chicago area an opportunity to give a five-minute presentation on an innovative business concept, with over $5,000 in prizes going to the top three presentations.
There were 67 applications, from which 13 finalists were selected to present at tonight’s event. The finalists showcased innovation from a wide range of technologies, from a better spray bottle to a "smart" electrical outlet that can prevent electrocutions and home fires.
The first prize, $ 3,000 and a business model study from the Coleman Center, valued at $ 1,500 went to the Guardian Angel Outlet, presented by Dan Masterson. Masterson was easily the best presenter of the group. He opened with some “shocking” statistics: 2400 children are treated each year for electric shock. Hundreds of them die. And 3300 household fires start at electric outlets. Masterson presented the “Guardian Angel Outlet”, a “smart” electric outlet.
The Guardian Angel Outlet contains a microprocessor that uses a capacitive sensing technique (Masterson name-checks the iPhone for using this technique). It senses that a hand is near and turns off the power. The outlet can identify safe/unsafe conditions: the nearness of a hand, excess heat, or an arcing situation.
This is the same technology licensed to Fellowes for their Safe Sense shredder, which won the 2007 Chicago Innovation Award and was Fellowes biggest selling item ever. They hold four pending patents on the technology.
They estimate the 16 Million dwellings with children under three years old as being a market that is emotionally ready to purchase their $10 outlets. They are currently negotiating to license the Guardian Angel technology to the top outlet manufacturers.
Second place went to MagDrive, presented by Igor Stamenkovic. MagDrive has patented technology that makes electric motors and generators more efficient. This is basic electric technology: fixed magnets, copper coils and a spinning core. The folks behind the MagDrive used sophisticated physics and numeric analysis to optimize the configuration of the electric motor or generator.
Over 15 million electric motors of varying sizes are sold every day, and the motor/generator components represent a $500 Million per day spend. The MagDrive’s efficiency makes it less expensive to operate. The design is modular and can scale up or down depending on the size and power requirements. The MagDrive component retrofits easily into existing equipment.
What was missing from Stamenkovic’s presentation was a clear statement of how much more efficient the MagDrive is compared to current technologies. I have no idea of the expected savings, or payback period for investing in a MagDrive. Nor was it clear what stage of development the MagDrive has reached.
RevStor, presented by Russ Felker, was the third place winner. RevStor uses existing corporate data resources to build a secure computing cloud on your premises. RevStore ties together an existing network to provide systems management, backup, archive, and security.
This provides an internal alternative to the external “cloud” or “on-demand” computing solutions offered by Google, Amazon, or Seagate; the (antiquated and possibly expensive) tape-based solutions offered by the likes of HP; and the (expensive) SAN solutions offered by the likes of EMC. RevStor shares CPU, storage, and network resources inside an enterprise in a secure managed environment. RevStor was also a finalist in the MIT-EF “Below the Radar” event last month.
The panel of judges for the Chicago MIT-EF White Board Challenge included Raman Chardha from the Coleman Center at DePaul University; Bernadette Freeman, Admin Law Judge from the City of Chicago, Adam Masia, Partner at Bell, Boyd & Lloyd; and Bill Myers, Director of Business Development at Motorola’s Early Stage Accelerator. David Weinstein was unable to attend due to an illness in his family. Attendees were given a vote as well, calling a toll-free number and entering their choice. The attendee votes counted as one judge, and I was told that the crowd choice coincided with the judges’ winner.
That’s the winners in a nutshell. I’ll share my notes on the well-deserving runners-up tomorrow.
There were 67 applications, from which 13 finalists were selected to present at tonight’s event. The finalists showcased innovation from a wide range of technologies, from a better spray bottle to a "smart" electrical outlet that can prevent electrocutions and home fires.
The first prize, $ 3,000 and a business model study from the Coleman Center, valued at $ 1,500 went to the Guardian Angel Outlet, presented by Dan Masterson. Masterson was easily the best presenter of the group. He opened with some “shocking” statistics: 2400 children are treated each year for electric shock. Hundreds of them die. And 3300 household fires start at electric outlets. Masterson presented the “Guardian Angel Outlet”, a “smart” electric outlet.
The Guardian Angel Outlet contains a microprocessor that uses a capacitive sensing technique (Masterson name-checks the iPhone for using this technique). It senses that a hand is near and turns off the power. The outlet can identify safe/unsafe conditions: the nearness of a hand, excess heat, or an arcing situation.
This is the same technology licensed to Fellowes for their Safe Sense shredder, which won the 2007 Chicago Innovation Award and was Fellowes biggest selling item ever. They hold four pending patents on the technology.
They estimate the 16 Million dwellings with children under three years old as being a market that is emotionally ready to purchase their $10 outlets. They are currently negotiating to license the Guardian Angel technology to the top outlet manufacturers.
Second place went to MagDrive, presented by Igor Stamenkovic. MagDrive has patented technology that makes electric motors and generators more efficient. This is basic electric technology: fixed magnets, copper coils and a spinning core. The folks behind the MagDrive used sophisticated physics and numeric analysis to optimize the configuration of the electric motor or generator.
Over 15 million electric motors of varying sizes are sold every day, and the motor/generator components represent a $500 Million per day spend. The MagDrive’s efficiency makes it less expensive to operate. The design is modular and can scale up or down depending on the size and power requirements. The MagDrive component retrofits easily into existing equipment.
What was missing from Stamenkovic’s presentation was a clear statement of how much more efficient the MagDrive is compared to current technologies. I have no idea of the expected savings, or payback period for investing in a MagDrive. Nor was it clear what stage of development the MagDrive has reached.
RevStor, presented by Russ Felker, was the third place winner. RevStor uses existing corporate data resources to build a secure computing cloud on your premises. RevStore ties together an existing network to provide systems management, backup, archive, and security.
This provides an internal alternative to the external “cloud” or “on-demand” computing solutions offered by Google, Amazon, or Seagate; the (antiquated and possibly expensive) tape-based solutions offered by the likes of HP; and the (expensive) SAN solutions offered by the likes of EMC. RevStor shares CPU, storage, and network resources inside an enterprise in a secure managed environment. RevStor was also a finalist in the MIT-EF “Below the Radar” event last month.
The panel of judges for the Chicago MIT-EF White Board Challenge included Raman Chardha from the Coleman Center at DePaul University; Bernadette Freeman, Admin Law Judge from the City of Chicago, Adam Masia, Partner at Bell, Boyd & Lloyd; and Bill Myers, Director of Business Development at Motorola’s Early Stage Accelerator. David Weinstein was unable to attend due to an illness in his family. Attendees were given a vote as well, calling a toll-free number and entering their choice. The attendee votes counted as one judge, and I was told that the crowd choice coincided with the judges’ winner.
That’s the winners in a nutshell. I’ll share my notes on the well-deserving runners-up tomorrow.
Labels: chicago technology, innovation
