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BiMBA Wins First Sustainable Technology Award at McGinnis Venture Competition

Apr 18-2013   



 

PITTSBURGH – A team from Beijing International MBA at Peking University won the inaugural Sustainable Technology Award at the prestigious, international McGinnis Venture Competition, hosted by the Donald H. Jones Center for Entrepreneurship at the Tepper School of Business.  The team’s business, Dr. Seed LLC, aims to help impoverished farmers in China with a technology that improves seeds by increasing crop yield, improving the crop’s resistance to drought and reducing the incidence of seed-borne diseases.

“We really wanted to develop an idea that would have a maximum impact on improving the quality of life for Chinese farmers,” said Jonathan Chin, sole representative of the nine-member team to make the journey from Beijing to Pittsburgh for the 2007 McGinnis Venture Competition, held at Carnegie Mellon University March 15 -17.

The seed-improvement technology acts by exposing seeds to a blast of light from a plasma-quartz bulb, Chin said.  The technology has been lab- and field-tested, and the Chinese MBA team is now working towards a broader deployment, he added.  Initially, Dr. Seed will be used to improve soybean production, but the technology will work with corn, wheat and other grains, Chin said.

The other members of Dr. Seed are: Team leaders, Vincent Wen and Christopher Chang; and Michael Wu; Grace Liu; Elisa Jiang; Michael Cheung; Dell Hyun; and Sunjai Tutakorn.  Chin said he was in regular contact with his team during the three-day competition and relied on their support to present his winning plan.  Dr. Seed received $15,000 in cash and $20,000 in business services.

The Sustainable Technology Award, funded by Tepper School alum Sarosh Kumana (MSIA, 1977) joined two other tracks in this fourth annual McGinnis Venture Competition: the Technology and Life Sciences tracks.

The University of Texas at Austin won the Technology Track with a business called Evapt, Inc. that is developing product to improve the performance of web-based software. Team members are Divakar Jandhyala and Ranjit Nayak.  They won $25,000 cash and $20,000 in business services.

Second place, and a $5,000 cash award, in the Technology track went to the University of Michigan, Savium Technologies LLC, a broadband-phased array antenna system that is low-cost, light-weight and an efficient power user.  Team members are Anuj Agarwal and Lora Schulwitz. Third place went to a team from the National University of Singapore with a business called TMN Biofuels, Inc. – Kishan Karunakaran represented the team.

First in the Life Sciences track went to Universidad de los Andes in Columbia with Trocamera, a business to improve laparoscopy for treating abdominal pain in Latin America. Team members included Marcela Cardenas, Rafael Arango, Jaime Gonzalez and Marcela Cardenas.  They won $25,000 in cash and $20,000 in business services.

A team from the Tepper School at Carnegie Mellon University placed second in Life Sciences with NeuroBank, a business to isolate, remove and store adult neural stem cells for use in treating certain neurological diseases and injuries.  Team members include Hassan Sultan and Raymond Sekula, a neurologist at Allegheny General Hospital. Sekula is the second AGH neurologist and Tepper School MBA candidate to place in the McGinnis Venture Competition.  Last year, a team that included Dr. Ernest Braxton Jr. won with NeuroLife, with a product to measure brain pressure non-invasively.

Third place in Life Sciences was a team form the University of Oregon with Armozyme, a business to develop enzymes for improved treatment of diabetes.  Team members include Enis Iplikci, Rathiya Jinn Issarachaikul, Deborah Marshall and Corey Bowers. Lastly, Savium Technologies, of the University of Michigan, won the Elevator Pitch competition.

All winners also will be automatically entered in the Moot Corp? Competition and given special access to Pittsburgh-area early stage investors for up to an additional $100,000 in additional investment opportunities.

The annual McGinnis Venture Competition is made possible by an endowment from Gerald E. McGinnis, a successful entrepreneur and founder of Respironics Inc.

The keynote speaker at the 2007 McGinnis Venture Competition was Dennis Yablonsky, Secretary of Community, Economic Development for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

BiMBA Wins First Sustainable Technology Award at McGinnis Venture Competition

Apr 18-2013   



 

PITTSBURGH – A team from Beijing International MBA at Peking University won the inaugural Sustainable Technology Award at the prestigious, international McGinnis Venture Competition, hosted by the Donald H. Jones Center for Entrepreneurship at the Tepper School of Business.  The team’s business, Dr. Seed LLC, aims to help impoverished farmers in China with a technology that improves seeds by increasing crop yield, improving the crop’s resistance to drought and reducing the incidence of seed-borne diseases.

“We really wanted to develop an idea that would have a maximum impact on improving the quality of life for Chinese farmers,” said Jonathan Chin, sole representative of the nine-member team to make the journey from Beijing to Pittsburgh for the 2007 McGinnis Venture Competition, held at Carnegie Mellon University March 15 -17.

The seed-improvement technology acts by exposing seeds to a blast of light from a plasma-quartz bulb, Chin said.  The technology has been lab- and field-tested, and the Chinese MBA team is now working towards a broader deployment, he added.  Initially, Dr. Seed will be used to improve soybean production, but the technology will work with corn, wheat and other grains, Chin said.

The other members of Dr. Seed are: Team leaders, Vincent Wen and Christopher Chang; and Michael Wu; Grace Liu; Elisa Jiang; Michael Cheung; Dell Hyun; and Sunjai Tutakorn.  Chin said he was in regular contact with his team during the three-day competition and relied on their support to present his winning plan.  Dr. Seed received $15,000 in cash and $20,000 in business services.

The Sustainable Technology Award, funded by Tepper School alum Sarosh Kumana (MSIA, 1977) joined two other tracks in this fourth annual McGinnis Venture Competition: the Technology and Life Sciences tracks.

The University of Texas at Austin won the Technology Track with a business called Evapt, Inc. that is developing product to improve the performance of web-based software. Team members are Divakar Jandhyala and Ranjit Nayak.  They won $25,000 cash and $20,000 in business services.

Second place, and a $5,000 cash award, in the Technology track went to the University of Michigan, Savium Technologies LLC, a broadband-phased array antenna system that is low-cost, light-weight and an efficient power user.  Team members are Anuj Agarwal and Lora Schulwitz. Third place went to a team from the National University of Singapore with a business called TMN Biofuels, Inc. – Kishan Karunakaran represented the team.

First in the Life Sciences track went to Universidad de los Andes in Columbia with Trocamera, a business to improve laparoscopy for treating abdominal pain in Latin America. Team members included Marcela Cardenas, Rafael Arango, Jaime Gonzalez and Marcela Cardenas.  They won $25,000 in cash and $20,000 in business services.

A team from the Tepper School at Carnegie Mellon University placed second in Life Sciences with NeuroBank, a business to isolate, remove and store adult neural stem cells for use in treating certain neurological diseases and injuries.  Team members include Hassan Sultan and Raymond Sekula, a neurologist at Allegheny General Hospital. Sekula is the second AGH neurologist and Tepper School MBA candidate to place in the McGinnis Venture Competition.  Last year, a team that included Dr. Ernest Braxton Jr. won with NeuroLife, with a product to measure brain pressure non-invasively.

Third place in Life Sciences was a team form the University of Oregon with Armozyme, a business to develop enzymes for improved treatment of diabetes.  Team members include Enis Iplikci, Rathiya Jinn Issarachaikul, Deborah Marshall and Corey Bowers. Lastly, Savium Technologies, of the University of Michigan, won the Elevator Pitch competition.

All winners also will be automatically entered in the Moot Corp? Competition and given special access to Pittsburgh-area early stage investors for up to an additional $100,000 in additional investment opportunities.

The annual McGinnis Venture Competition is made possible by an endowment from Gerald E. McGinnis, a successful entrepreneur and founder of Respironics Inc.

The keynote speaker at the 2007 McGinnis Venture Competition was Dennis Yablonsky, Secretary of Community, Economic Development for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.