Technology Entrepreneur Center’s Post

Thanks to everyone who made the Year-End Celebration and Awards Ceremony a fantastic success! Distinguished alumnus from The Grainger College of Engineering, Sidney Lu shared valuable insights about the importance of humility, patience, and curiosity on the entrepreneurial journey. 🎓 Congratulations to Our Graduates! 🎓 Congratulations to the graduates of the Innovation, Leadership, and Engineering Entrepreneurship Dual Degree program! 👏 Cozad Teams! 👏 A big round of applause for all the Cozad teams 👏. Keep an eye out for updates on the inaugural Cozad prizes and the winning teams! 🌟 Generous Support from Sponsors 🌟 This year, we proudly awarded nearly $500,000 to participating teams. None of this would have been possible without the incredible support from our sponsors. We are immensely grateful to everyone who contributed to the success of Cozad New Venture Challenge this year! The Grainger College of Engineering, Carle Illinois College of Medicine, Gies College of Business - University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign University of Illinois Research Park Craig Vodnik, Hoveida Family Foundation, Caruso Ventures Fox Ventures, Cooley LLP, Cozad Asset Management, Inc. Singleton Law Firm, P.C., Illinois Ventures, Portal Innovations, LLC, mHUB , TechNexus Venture Collaborative, OrangeQC.

M. Alejandra Zeballos C., a PhD student in Bioengineering has been honored with the prestigious Illinois Innovation Award. Her groundbreaking work focuses on developing next-generation therapies for neurodegenerative disorders using CRISPR-based technologies—those remarkable molecular scissors that enable precise genome editing. The eDream Institute at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications application has awarded Nellie Haug, a student at the Carle Illinois College of Medicine, the $10,000 Fiddler Innovation Fellowship. She co-founded Cervicare, which is developing a novel point-of-care test to circumvent the need for conventional pap testing to increase accessibility to this vital screening procedure, particularly in underserved communities. Congratulations to the campuswide innovation award recipients! Congratulations to the Illinois Innovation Award and Fiddler Innovation Fellowship 2024 finalists! Illinois Innovation Award Finalists: Akul Goyal, Kazuma Kobayashi, Jongwon Lim, Alexander Smith. Fiddler Innovation Fellowship Finalists: Diego Calderon and Jermaine Chambers Read about their award winning work: https://lnkd.in/gpi5EN83 The Grainger College of Engineering

Join us this Wednesday to celebrate an incredible school year of entrepreneurial and innovative accomplishments! We’ll be awarding many Cozad New Venture Challenge prizes including the Grainger Engineering Cozad Prize, the Health Innovation Prize, the Global Innovation Award, and more. We'll also announce the winners of the $20,000 Illinois Innovation Award awarded by The Grainger College of Engineering and the $10,000 Fiddler Innovation Fellowship awarded by the National Center for Supercomputing Applications! When: Wednesday | Apr 24 | 5:00-7:30pm Location: Campus Instructional Facility, Monumental Study Steps RSVP: https://lnkd.in/gr8zJkSW

Congratulations to Pathlit, AUVI, and ClimeCast on winning the top placement prizes! AminoSense, BYLD Innovations, Cote Privacy, and Provenance Security, which were the other finalist teams, each won the $10,000 Finalist Prize. Congratulations teams! We are now gearing up for the Year-End Celebration and Awards Ceremony on April 24 at the Campus Instructional Facility. The Cozad New Venture Challenge will conclude with the Year-End Celebration and Awards Ceremony. Click the link to join us: https://lnkd.in/gr8zJkSW Find out more about the other prizes awarded at the Cozad Finals Event: https://lnkd.in/gq2nRH7X

Congratulations to the Pathlit team on winning the Cozad New Venture Challenge Grand Prize with $50,000 investment! Pathlit is a no-code tool that enables extremely rapid testing, building, and evaluation of multi-LLM generative AI solutions without requiring deep expertise in tech or AI. Second place winning team is AUVI from the Healthcare Track of the competition with $35,000 investment. AUVI is developing a wearable device that detects the signs of a failing AV fistula early, which prevents the need for expensive surgeries and improves the quality of life for patients with end-stage kidney disease.  Third place winning team is ClimeCast with $25,000 investment. ClimeCast uses AI to optimize decarbonization strategy for commercial real estate. ClimeCast also secured the Dr. Paul Magelli Innovation Award ($10,000 in funding) and Best Pitch at Finals prize ($5,000 sponsored by Cozad Asset Management) Other finalist teams, AminoSense, Cote Privacy, Provenance Security, and BYLD Innovations each won $10,000 Finalist Prize. Thank you to the panel of judges for their valuable feedback and to our sponsors for supporting the program. Thank you to Portal Innovations, LLC for hosting the Finals Event in Chicago. https://lnkd.in/gq2nRH7X

Cozad New Venture Challenge Finals Event is happening this afternoon at the Portal Innovations, LLC in Chicago. Seven finalists selected to compete in the Finals Event of the campuswide program will pitch their startup ideas to a panel of judges for the top placement prizes. Good luck to the finalists! Stay tuned as we announce the Cozad New Venture Challenge 2024 winner! More about the finalists: https://lnkd.in/g2kkski3

Congratulations to the Cozad New Venture Challenge 2024 Finalists! The Technology Entrepreneur Center in The Grainger College of Engineering is pleased to announce the seven finalists selected to compete in the Finals Event of the campuswide Cozad New Venture Challenge 2024 that will be held at the Portal Innovations in Chicago on April 17. Meet the Finalists: Pathlit: Revolutionizing AI development with a no-code tool for rapid testing and evaluation of multi-LLM generative solutions. BYLD Innovations: Pioneering portable, foldable 3D printing for enhanced accessibility and innovation. AmnioSense: Ensuring timely labor onset detection through an at-home amniotic fluid system. AUVI: Monitoring glucose levels post-arteriovenous fistula procedures using wearable devices. Provenance Security: Tailoring next-gen endpoint detection for SMBs, bridging cybersecurity gaps. Cote Privacy: Building an intuitive AI governance platform for financial services firms. ClimeCast: Leveraging AI to optimize commercial real estate decarbonization strategies. More about the finalists and the Demo Day prize winners: https://lnkd.in/g2kkski3

We are immensely grateful to everyone who joined us for the Cozad New Venture Challenge Demo Day yesterday afternoon! A special thank you goes out to judges who dedicated their time and expertise. Your feedback and insights were invaluable to the 130 student startup teams that passionately pitched their innovative ideas. Congratulations to all the participating teams! We will announce the finalists later in the afternoon. Stay tuned! Top finalists will pitch their startup ideas to a panel of judges in Chicago. The winners of the Cozad New Venture Challenge will be announced at the Finals event at Portal Innovations in Chicago on April 17. Thank you to all our sponsors, campus partners, local community leaders, and entrepreneurship ecosystem stakeholders for making Demo Day a resounding success! We couldn't have achieved this without your support.

Join us this afternoon for the Cozad New Venture Challenge Demo Day at the I Hotel and Illinois Conference Center, 1-4 pm! 130 student startup teams will pitch and showcase their innovative ideas! "If you want to see an example of our campus entrepreneurship ecosystem working together, come down to the I-Hotel," said Jed Taylor, executive director of the Technology Entrepreneur Center. More: https://lnkd.in/gBAuRMFF

Countdown to Cozad New Venture Challenge Demo Day begins! Nearly 130 student startup teams are ready to pitch and showcase their ideas to 170 judges at the Demo Day that is happening this Thursday, April 11 at the I Hotel and Conference Center! Following a successful Practice Pitch Night last week, where teams fine-tuned their presentations with valuable feedback from our dedicated judges, we're all set for the Demo Day. A huge shout out to the judges for their invaluable contributions. Thank you to everyone involved in making the Cozad New Venture Challenge a cornerstone of entrepreneurial success. We look forward to celebrating this remarkable showcase with you all! Good luck teams! The Grainger College of Engineering Carle Illinois College of Medicine Gies College of Business - University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign