New innovation competition will reward wireless products

A new University of Wisconsin–Madison innovation competition will reward students for creative smartphone apps and other wireless technology products.

The inaugural Qualcomm Wireless Innovation Prize will be held Thursday, April 28, in the new Union South, 1308 W. Dayton St.

Open to all UW–Madison undergraduate and master’s-level students, the competition will give away more than $17,000 in prizes to participants who present interesting ideas and business plans to make those ideas profitable.

“As smartphones have become commonplace, there are many opportunities to create new technologies and applications that can revolutionize our lifestyle,” says competition coordinator electrical and computer engineering professor Parameswaran Ramanathan. “This competition offers our students an opportunity to show their creativity in this area.”

Media are invited to attend the competition. Winners will be announced Thursday evening.

Presentations will be held in the Landmark Room on the third floor, with posters on display in the Northwoods Room. Parking is available in Engineering Lot 17, 1525 Engineering Drive.

Competition schedule:

• 9-9:15 a.m.: Touch Live Connect, an enhanced online chatting program invented by Nai-Wen (Claire) Yu.
• 9:20-9:35 a.m.: Obsedis Technologies, an RFID-based theft-deterrent system invented by Tim McGowan and David Michaels.
• 9:40-9:55 a.m.: Snippet Messaging, a technology to enable cell phones to send text messages via short-range radio invented by Scott Hatfield.
• 10:20-10:35 a.m.: Runner’s Fan, a smartphone app that provides real-time location and statistics during a long-distance race invented by Eric Baum, Tyler Heslinga, Vinothkumar Narasimhan and Stephen Rajan.
• 10:40-10:55 a.m.: Universal Smartphone Bike Mount and Bluetooth, a system to mount a smartphone on a bicycle handlebar and attach a Bluetooth headset to a helmet invented by Laura Vetro.
• 11-11:15 a.m.: Phantom Dictionary Project, an online dictionary that focuses on ideas instead of status updates invented by Cagatay Melan.
• 11:20-11:35 a.m.: Live Healthy, Do Good, a system to simultaneously make healthy food choices and charitable donations via a portable electronic device invented by Tyler Lark.

For more information, visit http://innovation.wisc.edu/qualcomm/