Center for Entrepreneurship and Commercialization Hosts Innovation Quest Elevator Pitch Competition

From special spatulas to a golf-cart company targeting the transport needs of students with disabilities on campus, University of Cincinnati  student entrepreneurs pitched a wide range of projects and ideas during the eighth annual

Innovation Quest Elevator Pitch

Competition on April 8.

More than 130 student teams entered the competition, which was hosted by the Lindner College of Business and the

UC Center for Entrepreneurship & Commercialization

.

Each group had just 90 seconds to sell judges on the value of their companies and ideas for “small businesses, social enterprises and sophisticated technology start-ups,” in order to win up to $1,000. Ideas ranged from design-oriented projects to medical devices, and software applications such as a Cloud-based artificial intelligence sales/analytics platform.

Senior Vice Provost Kristi Nelson welcomed the crowd of students and commended them for their creativity and determination.

“We know the future depends on entrepreneurship and innovation,” Nelson said. “The future is in fine hands with all of you.”

Local organizations, like the

Brandery

,

HCDC

, the

Manufactory

,

OCEAN

and

Cintrifuse

, gave half-time presentations to help students learn about successful high-tech entrepreneurship opportunities already in place in Cincinnati.

The IQ E-Pitch Competition started eight years ago and expanded to a university-wide event three years ago. Competitors ranged from freshmen all the way to graduate-level students from almost every college in the university.

Winners included:

• Undergraduate First Place ($1,000): Erik Sorrell, Jake Leuthke and Peter Comer
• Undergraduate Second Place ($500): William McKenzie and Luke Sillies
• Undergraduate Third Place ($250): Temiloluwa Adeniyi and Davida Scoggins
• Graduate First Place ($1,000): Ron Meyers
• Graduate Second Place ($500): Tom Eveler
• Graduate Third Place ($250): Zoltan Von Dienes-Oehm