advanced e-team

Pin Pictures

Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, 2001 - $1,650

Pin Pictures is another advancement in the joining of art and media for advertising and entertainment purposes. Pin Pictures designs allow for the production of a three-dimensional pin image of a two-dimensional image. This product captures the imagination of viewers and entertains users.

The product is designed to be a novelty item, similar to the Pinpressions found in many stores today. The product is a simple pin matrix. The pins are controlled by a microprocessor and can form a three-dimensional image on the front of the product by changing their position relative to the base of the product.

The E-Team was comprised of three undergraduate engineering students from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology.

Virtual Visit

University of Southern California, 2001 - $18,000

The Virtual Visit project started in the fall of 2000 at the University of Southern California Department of Biomedical Engineering with the support of the Alfred Mann Institute and the USC School of Gerontology. Its goal was to increase communication between the elderly and their families by providing a simple and robust videoconferencing system. The device uses typical consumer electronic items found in most homes to enable videoconferencing without requiring any computer literacy. It uses a high speed Internet and phone connection and a regular television display.

The core student E-Team reevaluated the design, conducted feasibility analyses, determined funding strategies, found strategic partners, evaluated intellectual property protection, conducted a market analysis, and constructed a functional prototype.

Find.Location.Instantly

Lehigh University, 2001 - $14,220

FLI Technologies developed Seek, a product that satisfies the ever-present need to locate misplaced items. Seek blended plastics, rubber molding, and circuitry in a manner that satisfies the criterion for performance, reliability, and style. Seek was created by Lehigh University college students for college students. The college market is a niche not targeted by any competitors. Beginning with the introduction of Seek, FLI's goal was to broaden the personal item-location market and be the leading supplier for college students.

The team was comprised of eight undergraduate students from Engineering, Design, and Finance.

Nanometrix, Inc.

University of Tennessee, 2001 - $13,150

Nanometrix, Inc. was formed to capitalize on a substantial opportunity from a groundbreaking patent-pending technology developed at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). Nanometrix has secured an option on the exclusive license to the Molecular Comb, a revolutionary microfluidics technology that can separate virtually any chemical for laboratory or field analysis. The Molecular Comb is a miniaturized chip-based platform technology with numerous potential applications that include environmental monitoring, immunodiagnostics, and DNA and protein screening. The Molecular Comb is a novel method for the separation of molecules and has many potential advantages over existing art including increased accuracy and discrimination; decreased costs; increased throughput; and reduced size, power requirements, and heat generation.

JackHeat: A Lightweight, Fashionable, Self-Heating Jacket

University of Pittsburgh, 2001 - $14,200

JackHeat is a self-heating, lightweight jacket. The E-Team successfully developed a prototype, made possible through the discovery of a new carbon-based material, Gorix, which allows heat to pass through evenly while using a minimal amount of battery power.

The E-Team consisted of two students from computer engineering and a third from marketing. Their faculty advisors were three engineering professors and one from marketing. One of their three industry advisors is the inventor of Gorix. They hope to enter the market as the first self-heating, general consumer-oriented jacket, offering a variety of additional skins for increased profitability.

UV E-Team

University of Maryland, 2001 - $19,500

The Center for Superconductivity at the University of Maryland researched and developed MgZnO-based photodetectors on silicon substrate for sensing Ultra Violet (UV) light that is significantly less expensive than current substitutes. The UV E-Team improved this UV sensor technology further and grew it on glass and plastics. The additional cost reduction made it more affordable to integrate sensors into watches or small electronic devices used in the detection, measuring and tracking of UV radiation exposure, the number one cause of skin cancer. The UV E-Team developed a PC-based prototype watch that was used to test UV sensors and demonstrated to potential customers interested in completing the integrated circuitry design to integrate the sensor into their own products.

Comfort Computing, Inc.

Babson College, 2001 - $7,400

Comfort Computing Inc. (CCI) designs, develops, manufactures and commercializes computer accessory products that promote ergonomics, mobility, and productivity to mobile computer users. CCI plans to lead the market with the Portable Computer Laprest product, an accessory for users of portable computers in the home, office, or hotel. The product addresses an unarticulated market need from home workers, telecommuters and students that seek alternative computing environments. Laprest allows users to operate their computers from their laps comfortably and free from the dangers of repetitive stress injuries or excessive heat generated by the machine.

The team is comprised of two Babson College MBA students. One student has done brand development and the other has an MS in Engineering Design with significant work experience. Their advisors include two entrepreneurship professors and a physical therapist. The Babson College Incubator Program is providing office space and $5,000 for startup expenses. The E-Team's plan includes securing patents, creating prototypes, conducting further market research, writing a market plan, and making models for manufacturers.

Handprint

Brown University, 2001 - $18,000

Handprint was a startup company conceived by an entrepreneurial team at Brown University in conjunction with Zebra Technologies. Handprint developed portable printers unlike any currently available. The first in its line of printers, the Primo, is one of the smallest portable printers on the market, intended for use with wireless web browsing products such as cellular phones and PDAs. With the recent developments in color technologies used in flat panels, PDA screens, and cellular telephones, the demand for wireless color printing capabilities will rapidly expand in the near future.

Double Dutch Service

Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute, 2000 - $17,000

The automatic Double Dutch Device is a product that revolutionizes conventional rope-jumping. The product can be used for recreation, cardiovascular fitness, or to enhance coordination and agility. The device consists of two stations facing each other in mirror image relation that turn a pair of ropes 180 degrees out-of-phase.

This E-Team received continuing NCIIA support for the development and early stages of the commercialization of the device. Renewed funding helped refine the prototype, expand IP protection based on an initial patent granted, and make connections to begin marketing the product. The team leader recruited a new group of students and worked with them on further development and commercialization.

Zymex Pharmaceuticals

University of Georgia, 2000 - $17,000

This E-Team developed proof of concept for a drug discovery technology to identify promising protease inhibitors for application in a wide variety of diseases. The project was based on work done by a graduate student and a business plan developed for a competition at UGA in which it took first prize. The team, consisting of the grad student and a group of MBA and law students, assembled a group of technical and business advisors with the intention of launching a startup to commercialize the drug discovery process. The process, called Zymaccel, has several advantages over traditional approaches that could result in improved cost efficiency and better performing drugs with fewer side effects. Tests of the first compound identified with this system were promising. The E-Team proved the process by identifying three additional compounds, and continued to pursue commercial development of the process and product.