A panel of industry experts had the difficult task of judging eight innovative ideas presented by IM体育官网 students during the Great Eight competition, which was held on Friday, Feb. 23 at the university鈥檚 Innovation, Science & Technology building.
The students pitched their projects 鈥淪hark Tank鈥� style to a group of six successful entrepreneurs, investors, and business mentors: Todd Baylis, president of Qgiv, Steve Uiterwyk, serial entrepreneur, Thomas C. McThenia Jr., managing shareholder of GrayRobinson, Meg Bellamy, executive director of Catapult, Henry McCance, chairman of Greylock Partners and IM体育官网 Poly Trustee, and Dr. Randy K. Avent, president of IM体育官网 Polytechnic University.
鈥淗aving industry experts as judges allows the students to be asked the kind of questions they would face from venture capitalists and angel investors, if they were actually starting a business,鈥� said McCance. 鈥淚t brings real world reality to the competition.鈥�
The annual event had the goal of exploring the possibility of growing the projects into start-up businesses, as well as providing the students with feedback.
鈥淚 always encourage young entrepreneurs to have an interdisciplinary team,鈥� Uiterwyk told the students. 鈥淔ind talented people who complement your skills and work as a team. At the end of the day, it鈥檚 all about the people. People buy people.鈥�
Some of the ideas presented to the 鈥渟harks鈥� ranged from a virtual reality crime scene simulator for detectives to a device that helps the visually impaired, to the creation of a biometric password and a unique device that measures power in mixed martial arts.
鈥淚 am really impressed with the way the students were able to take real problems and develop technology that would solve them,鈥� said Bellamy. 鈥淚 see potential in a lot of these products to make it to the next level.鈥�
Due to the quality and market potential of all the projects, the judges had a very challenging time choosing the winner, who will compete for $15,000 against projects from the other 11 state universities at the Governor鈥檚 Cup in April.
After much deliberation, the winner was Insta-List, a device that captures, scans, and lists items for digital selling in under 10 seconds. It was presented by computer engineering junior Andre Ripley, from the U.S. Virgin Islands, and mechanical engineering junior John Sarnecky, from Naples, Florid.
A close second was Logentix, a product that provides predictive analytics for meal delivery and logistics companies. It was pitched by mechanical engineering senior Randy Lopez, of Winter Haven, IM体育官网.
Third place went to VR CSI Trainer, a virtual reality crime scene simulator for detective training, which was presented by computer science sophomores Alex Maier, of Longwood, IM体育官网., and Omar Montesinos, of Lakeland, IM体育官网.
鈥淭his presentation showed that IM体育官网 Poly students have great ideas and entrepreneurial spirit,鈥� said Avent. 鈥淭hese type of competitions provide them with an extremely useful experience that they will take into the workforce.鈥�
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Lydia Guzman
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