The Samuel Zell & Robert H. Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business today announced the recipients of the 2008 Eugene Applebaum Dare to Dream Grant Program and 2008 Michigan Business Challenge award.
Grant recipients and award winners were presented with resources in the form of advice and counsel and funding totaling $85,000 for excellence in new business plans and concepts.
Bringing together entrepreneurial-minds from business, engineering, medicine and other departments at UM, Dare to Dream and Michigan Business Challenge offer students the opportunity to develop and present their business plans, receive feedback from skilled entrepreneurs and faculty, and be rewarded with funding and support.
The 2008 recipients offer a microcosm of global innovation and investment trends, especially in areas such as biotech, clean tech, medical device, Web 2.0 and consumer social networking business ideas. The winners' leadership teams also offer a cross-disciplinary approach to business creation, with many management teams comprised of business, science and engineering students.
The Dare to Dream grant program encourages teams to explore the feasibility of business ideas or to move businesses closer to launch through grant funding. A total of $50,000 was awarded to the following student teams:
· A2Secure: consumer service to secure and store personal information for online activities
· Audiallo: biology-inspired audio processing technology
· BLA Technologies: remembers coordinates of an object and later recalls the location
· City Cycles: creates employee locker rooms to encourage bicycling commutes
· ELAN: social fundraising network to connect schools in India with local donors
· Fontis Medical: delivers large molecule drugs directly through the skin with a patch
· Grad Student Net: social network for graduate students and researchers to share knowledge and supplies
· Healthy Lunches: home and school delivered lunches selected by parents
· High Efficiency Thin Film: solar cell thin film to create solar energy
· Hitchsters: social network to connect airport travelers for cab sharing
· I2: remodeling design and instruction services for homeowners
· Innovet: medical devices and service for veterinary orthopedic applications
· Moduline Technologies: external re-sealable connector for implantation within the body
· Mozergy: sustainable biodiesel feedstock to produce sustainable carbon-neutral biodiesel
· Michigan Watersports: indoor water sports parks for wakeboarding
· Natural Sequestration Company: sequesters carbon dioxide emissions waste to large scale emitters and creates a glucose byproduct to sell
· Project Freestyle: online organizational and marketing solutions for soccer businesses
· Pure Ultra: improved polymers for ultrasound gel
· Residential Energy Solutions: roof-mounted Vertical Axis Wind Turbine
· SecondEye: spell-check for radiologists
· Taglium: cutting fluid
· Travelamp: nightlife information to travelers abroad
· Waste Agents: waste stream energy consulting practice
· Z2 Technologies: computer- assisted dental implantology services and surgical guides
The Michigan Business Challenge evaluates students’ business ideas during multiple rounds of competition.
The 25th Michigan Business Challenge awarded a total of $35,000 in prize money to the following recipients.
· Hitchsters
· ePack Corp: high volume, high yield batch mode micro-device packaging for semiconductor manufacturers.
· Org Org: social networking tool for organizations to manage and communicate with members
· Potentia: micro fabricated battery-replacement component to generate power by scavenging environmental energy.
For more information on Dare to Dream or Michigan Business Challenge award winners, visit www.zli.bus.umich.edu.
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