The 18th annual Innovative Idea Competition used entrepreneurship to unite students across Temple University.
Temple’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship Institute (IEI) hosts the yearly competition, which encourages generation of innovative new products, services, and technologies as the foundation of new businesses. The most-recent competition, held Nov. 12 at Alter Hall and the Fox School of Business, welcomed 351 submissions from 12 different schools and colleges, marking a 39-percent increase in participation from 2014.
The competition not only features interdisciplinary submissions, but also encourages faculty, graduate and undergraduate students to compete for nine awards, said Ellen Weber, IEI’s Executive Director.
“This competition inspires students and demonstrates that entrepreneurship is a viable path,” said Ellen Weber, Executive Director of IEI. “It’s their first toe in the water in terms of getting their ideas out there.”
The Anne Nelson Grand Prize of $2,500 went to Stephen Peduto from the College of Engineering for his venture, Quick Stabilizing Carbon. Peduto’s idea, which earned first place in the Undergraduate track, creates a cast for broken bones that would expedite the healing time.
Entrants from the Fox School of Business received both first and second place in the Graduate, Faculty, Staff or Alumni track. Olawunmi Thomas-Quarcoo, a Fox School MBA candidate, took first place and $500 in prize money for Ka Bom Designs, a platform for female African clothing designers to market their creations. (Quarcoo also took first place and an additional $1,000 in the People’s Choice category.) In the same track, Fox MBA candidate Séverine Bandou earned second place and $500 for Myjé, a hair fragrance for people whose hair texture makes regular washing difficult. Originally from Paris, Bandou came up with the idea to remedy a problem she’s experienced personally.
First place in the Undergraduate category went to Fox School senior Tyler Stoltzfus for Seed Dyes. An Entrepreneurship and Innovation major, Stoltzfus created Seed Dyes as a sustainable textile dye. Taking home the $1000 prize, Stoltzfus’ Seed Dyes appeals to the competition’s social impact element.
Other Innovative Idea Competition winners included:
- Sabrina Zouaghi, from the College of Science and Technology. Her venture, Self-Stabilizing Gloves, would provide a mechanism for stabilizing hand movement in people who suffer from muscle tremors. Zouaghi earned $1,000 for finishing in second place in the Undergraduate track and an additional $500 as the second-place winner in the People’s Choice category.
- Camille Bell, an alumna from the School of Media and Communication. Her venture, Poundcake, provides a line of cake-inspired lipsticks that come in several shades for women of all different skin colors. Bell received $500, in addition to the competition’s Global Innovation prize.
Many of the ventures presented at the Innovative Idea Competition will go on to compete in the IEI’s Be Your Own Boss Bowl (BYOBB) this spring. The BYOBB encourages students to develop a comprehensive business plan and to test the functionality of their idea.
“It’s one thing to have an idea and another to test it,” Weber said. “The Innovative Idea Competition focuses on opportunity recognition and the generation of new, feasible ideas, while the BYOBB focuses on creating the business plans to execute an idea.”