Student entrepreneurs from Bucknell University, Penn State, and University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown are participating in the BizPitch competition and starting their own businesses with the help of the Small Business Development Center.
On Wednesday, January 27, they present their business ideas to a panel of judges and compete onscreen for over $3,000 in prizes.
Registration and the reception with startup founders will be from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. Following, from 8 to 9 p.m., will be the screening of “The Investment” filmed by WPSU.
The low hum of fluorescent lights mixed with electric whirs from walls of scientific equipment form a peaceful soundtrack inside Aleo BME, Inc.’s Innovation Park laboratory. But it’s broken with metallic screeches as the company’s chief scientist Jian Yang forces a large desk onto a loading cart and out the lab’s doorway.
Sounds of Yang’s labored breaths as he puts all his weight behind the cart are evident of the bio¬technology research and development company’s ongoing expansion. Yang’s wife, fellow scientist and the company’s CEO, used to sit there and field calls in the lab.
“He’s just moving it down the hall,” Chao Liu says. “We need a quiet place to answer the phone!”
Further evidence of Aleo BME’s growth since the three-person company moved into Innovation Park’s technology center this past summer can be found in its progress in multiple fields of study — chief among them, a dye that can help make critical early diagnoses of cystic fibrosis and of a nerve regeneration device Yang says will be a “game-changer.”
Read more: Aleo BME, Inc. Makes Breakthrough in Nerve Repair and Regeneration
Keeping buildings cool in the United States uses about 8.5 quads of energy per year—put in more accessible terms, that’s about the same amount of energy contained in 293 thousand megawatts of electricity or eight billion gallons of gasoline. Air conditioning for buildings is a major expense and generates enormous quantities of greenhouse gases.
Ailan Cheng’s Nascent Devices LLC is developing new technologies aimed at replacing traditional vapor compression refrigerators and air conditioners by tapping into the amazing properties of polymeric (plastic) films that cause them to rapidly change temperature when subjected to an electric current. This unique property is known as gigantic electrocaloric effect. If Nascent can harness this gigantic opportunity, future generations may enjoy cleaner, less expensive cooling systems.
Read more: Nascent Devices Cooking up Cool Blue Technologies to Save Energy
On Tuesday, December 8, four teams participating in the Ben Franklin TechCelerator program gave their final presentations to a panel of judges consisting of local experts.
The judges selected two winners—Heliome and Biotransitions—who received $5,000 to help advance their startups.
Heliome, led by Dr. Andrew Patterson, is a virtually-based startup that formed 2 months ago and is focused on developing innovative drug treatments for metabolic diseases, such as Diabetes and Obesity. The team is developing effective and safe drug therapies and hopes to use their $5,000 to find a physical location in the area.
On November 9, Innovation Park-based company Airnest launched their first iPhone and iPad app that allows users to navigate a drone by drawing a flight path with their finger. The drone follows their desired path on autopilot while capturing video and stills.
Experts say that Airnest’s app is the simplest there is. It’s the easiest on the market, having been specifically designed to decrease the time spent operating the app and increase the time spent on shooting smooth videos and camera stills.