UW Technology Enterprise Competition winners announced

First-place Iverson Engineering Wins $10,000

Engineering student Eric Iverson and business student Brian Weiss are the first-place $10,000 winners for best technology based business plan in the 1998 UW–Madison Technology Enterprise Competition. Final judging was held last week at the Business School.

Their technology-based business plan is for a company called Iverson Engineering, which will create the “Recycled Plastic Welder.” The device enables an operator to feed strips, chunks, pellets, beads or shavings of plastic filler into a caulk gun-like applicator in order to repair or join together plastic. The tool can be used for everything from repairing a cracked automobile bumper cover to using milk jugs to seal windows or repair a toy.

(The device recently also won a fourth-place award in the College of Engineering’s undergraduate invention competition, the Schoofs Prize for Creativity.)

The Technology Enterprise Competition is designed to encourage joint engineering, business and science student teams to conduct market research, assess technological feasibility and write a business plan that builds on the strength of UW technology, business expertise and education. In preparation for the competition, engineering and business students at the University of Wisconsin–Madison put in months of teamwork, planning and developing their market research and business plans for technology-based business ventures.

The following teams also earned cash prizes:

Second place, $7,000: www.nevertheless.com by IntraLogos, provides advertising media for both local businesses and the average consumer. (Team members Luciano C. Oviedo, engineering; Aimee Bruederle, business; Nikolai Krasnoperov, engineering; and Mark Killinger, biochemistry and engineering.)

Third place, $4,000: Precision Information involves a plan to market personal finance software. (Team members Joe Saari, business; Anand Kamannavar, engineering; Apurv Anand, engineering; Jason Zocks, business; Todd Lundgren, business; and Jeffrey Berry, business.)

Fourth place, $1,000: Castle Security Incorporated has a plan to market multiple-use personal security devices produced using a “virtual” operations structure. (Team members Andrea Besikof, business; Deborah Levin, art; Bryan Wichman, business; and Curt Szymanski, engineering.)

Special Award for High Commercialization Potential, $1,000: Integral Technologies’ The Nimbleload, a “six degree of freedom” testing machine. (Team members Neeraj Bharadwaj, business; and Richard Hage, engineering.)

IBM sponsors the contest through a five-year grant program of curriculum development. The grant program is shared between the College of Engineering, the School of Business and the UW Technology Enterprise Cooperative, a joint program of the College of Engineering and School of Business.

Inventive ideas for other businesses competing for prizes included:

Datagration has a plan to develop database systems that connect employees, vendors, suppliers and customers. CD Vending Machine. A technology to allow customers to select songs and record them to a compact disc. Alca-Lock is a plan surrounding a new type of bicycle lock. Akamai Software is developing a graphical user interface web application to assist students in registering for their classes. BMZ Engineering has a plan to design and produce motorcycle frames.

For more information contact Jim Beal, 608/263-0611; jbeal@engr.wisc.edu; or Karen Walsh, 608/263-2982, walsh@engr.wisc.edu.