VCU news

By Cassie Williams Jones

The Virginia Commonwealth University’s da Vinci Center announced the winners of the second Venture Creation Competition (VCC), a business plan competition held last week aimed at sparking the entrepreneurial spirit of all VCU students.

The VCC was held as part of VCU’s annual Student Research Week, a series of events that brings together undergraduate and graduate students from across disciplines to celebrate research and creative and scholarly projects.

This year, a total of 35 teams comprised of 78 undergraduate and graduate VCU students from eight of VCU’s schools, as well as three VCU alumni and four non-VCU individuals, entered the competition.  The teams submitted executive summaries of ideas, concepts or technologies for a business venture earlier this semester, and 10 were selected – five undergraduate and five graduate – to present to the panel of judges.

"This year's competition expanded to two divisions – one for undergraduates and one for graduate students – and was very competitive,” said Kenneth Kahn, director of VCU’s da Vinci Center and a professor of marketing in the VCU School of Business. “The quality of submissions leading up to the finals shows that the VCU student community is eager and open to pursue innovation and entrepreneurship (I&E) opportunities.  VCU da Vinci Center is pleased to host this event and serve as a resource for students to spur an I&E culture here at VCU."

“This is really becoming a great hallmark event at VCU,” said VCU President Michael Rao, who praised the participating students and thanked them “for your innovation, the risks that you’ve taken and for being such great role models to others at this institution.”

FreeMobility was the winning team in the undergraduate division, receiving $5,000 to advance its project.  Mechanical engineering students John Swanson, Jonathan Marsh, Justin Dickerson and Matt Schell designed a stair-climbing walker intended for the elderly and those in physical therapy to gain a greater sense of freedom and independence. The team is now enrolled in the Governor’s Business Plan Challenge on May 2, a statewide competition hosted by Gov. Bob McDonnell and WorkIt, Richmond. FreeMobility will compete with other undergraduate presenters from colleges and universities around the state for the $10,000 grand prize.

Skribs, a team of Olugbenga “Tumi” Oredein, a product innovation major in the da Vinci Center, and Eric Pankey, a non-VCU individual, won the grand prize and $5,000 in the graduate division. The two developed erasable, customizable wristbands that allow kids to write and draw whatever they like with whatever they like.

“It feels amazing to win,” said Oredein, who has spent more than a year working on the venture. “It’s great to see some tangible results from our work.”

Second-place winners from both divisions took home $3,000 each. Lumiform Tech, comprising Kathleen Barron in the School of Engineering, Catherine Gellatly in the School of the Arts and VCU alumna Christine Stoddard, won second place in the undergraduate division for their aesthetically-pleasing, responsive light technologies. In the graduate division, Backward Sprocket Mfg. Co., which included Brandcenter students Nicholas Marx, Sam Cantor and Hunter Pechin, took second for its development of heated bicycle grips powered by human motion.

Undergraduate team RBazaar and graduate team Second Showing won third place in their divisions, each earning a $2,000 prize. RBazaar is devoted to providing a regular market space for up-and-coming artists, growers, movers and shakers, and consisted of art students Melissa Lesh, Virginia Wood and Brynne Whitford. Brandcenter students Russ Gottwald, Richard Lutz and Taylor Schumaker created Second Showing, an online platform that will pick up independent films that do not secure acceptable distribution.

The remaining four teams finished as finalists, winning $1,000 each.

Tracks on Track, an effective and efficient solution for hair extension and weave maintenance developed by Shaina Haskins, an interdisciplinary studies student, and UniversAssure, an extended warranty company and outdoor power equipment retailer that uses existing retailers to fulfill its online orders processed through the site PowerEq.com., created by business students Jonathan Holloman, Josiah Ickes, Steven Brown and Chad Muller, were the undergraduate finalists.

The graduate finalists included team members Owen Duffy from the School of the Arts and his brother, Joseph Duffy, a non-VCU individual, with Artifact, a socially responsible company dedicated to providing retail store consumers with affordable, gallery-quality, cutting edge artwork made by in-house professional artists, as well as StraightThink, a product design firm for paint industry solutions developed by Benjamin Straight, a product innovation student.

Judges for the competition included:  Karen Adams, chief executive officer of Hot Technology Holdings; William Daughtrey, entrepreneur-in-residence, Dominion Resources Innovation Center; Graham Henshaw of New Richmond Ventures; Darrell Jervey, chief executive officer, Worth Products Group; Tonya Mallory, chief executive officer and president, Health Diagnostic Laboratory; Mike McGinley, co-founder and managing partner, New Dominion Angels; Dick Menendez, chief operating officer, Motley’s Richmond Auto Auction; Erik Milch, partner, Cooley LLP; John Mills, associate, Cooley LLP; Brent Smith, associate professor of real estate and Kornblau Scholar, VCU School of Business; Scott Tolleson, head of Cable and Media Industries, Ericsson; and Matt Woolman, associate professor of graphic design and director of Creative Entrepreneurship, VCU School of the Arts.

Sponsors included Health Diagnostics Laboratory, the VCU Office of the Vice President of Research, VCU School of Business, MeadWestvaco Foundation and Altria Client Services.

VCU’s da Vinci Center for Innovation is a collaboration of VCU’s schools of the Arts, Business, Engineering and Humanities and Sciences. Through its programs such as the undergraduate Certificate in Product Innovation and the Master of Product Innovation, the center catalyzes interdisciplinary innovation and entrepreneurship as it prepares students for the 21^st Century workforce and supports development initiatives for partner organizations.

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