UW-Madison students again rise to the entrepreneurial challenge

For the second straight year, students at the University of Wisconsin–Madison flexed their entrepreneurial muscle as they turned surplus materials into new creations.

Participants in this year’s 100-hour Wiscontrepreneur Challenge again competed to turn $10 worth of merchandise purchased from UW-Madison SWAP (Surplus With A Purpose) into their own entrepreneurial venture.

More detail on the winners can be found here. The winners are:

• Most Creative: "i pedal" by Matthew Manske. A fine arts major from Slinger, Wis., Manske’s creation is a device that’s designed to help power hand-held devices by using the energy one exerts riding a bicycle. "i Pedal has enormous potential, especially among bicycle commuters," says Manske.
• Most Value Created: "UFO Coffee Table" by Anastasiya "Ace" Kvit, which was also declared the winner of the "People’s Choice" award by collecting 1,124 unique page views. Kvit, a UW–Madison sophomore from Moscow, Russia, describes her creation as "a colorful, light up coffee table made from an old test tube holder, a glass tube, an old lid, a lamp, colored plastic dividers and some old roof siding."
• Most Social Value Created: Tie between "WE CONSERVE" by Jonathan Jackson, a junior business major from Prairie du Sac, Wis.; and "The Space Heater Safety Alarm" by Peter Dykstra, a senior from Wilmette, Ill., who is also a UW men’s track decathlete. WE CONSERVE is a marketing campaign that uses simple messages placed on the trays used in university food service to persuade UW–Madison students to reduce energy consumption; and the Space Heater Safety Alarm is a warning system designed to alert users when their space heater is a danger risk.

"Once again, we are impressed by the talent and ingenuity of our UW–Madison students," says Charles B. Hoslet, managing director of the Office of Corporate Relations at UW–Madison, organizers of the challenge. "What continues to impress us is the amount of hard work and creativity these busy students put into their projects in just a small amount of time."

Participants in the 100-hour Challenge completed their creations in little more than a weekend. Registration began at 6 p.m. on Thursday, April 17. After registering online, students were able to sift through an abundance of SWAP merchandise at a special event held at the Memorial Union on Friday. Once they selected their SWAP materials, students had until 10 p.m. Monday evening (April 21) to assemble their entry and post it electronically at a publicly accessible Web site.

Once the student projects were submitted, they were evaluated by a panel of three judges who awarded $300 in three separate categories (see above). Additionally, a $100 "People’s Choice" prize was given to the entry that was viewed by the most people online during the judging period. Venture Investors LLC of Madison co-sponsored the 100-Hour Challenge and provided the money for the cash prizes.

"The challenge was really fun to judge," says Scott Button, a managing director with Venture Investors. "All the students showed excellent creativity, and we are proud to be a sponsor."

Adds Brittany Seabloom, another of the judges who last year was the winner of the most value created category: "This year’s group was larger and seemed to have a lot of fun. There were so many really interesting projects, especially creative furniture. I thought last year was stiff competition, but this year might have been even harder."

The 100-hour Wiscontrepreneur Challenge is just one of several activities that OCR and UW–Madison are sponsoring to generate interest in entrepreneurship campus-wide, says Hoslet. UW–Madison is one of 19 campuses nationwide to receive a grant from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation of Kansas City to help build the spirit and skills of entrepreneurship among all students. Nearly 50 students (individually and in teams) registered for this year’s challenge, Hoslet says, but only 15 teams/individuals submitted projects by the April 21 deadline.

"I was really surprised my table won the ‘most money generated’ award," says UFO Table creator Kvit. "It took a lot of effort, as I had to solve multiple small engineering problems right on the spot, such as what glue to use to glue metal to glass, or how to extend the base so it would fit under the top. I think that this table (would) look perfect together with one of the other entries, the Slide Carousel Hanging Lamp, in some sort of futuristic, cyber-punk room."

UW-Madison senior Peter Dykstra, a repeat participant (and winner) from last year’s competition, constructed a space heater safety alarm that he believes can save lives.

"I’m glad to have had another opportunity to participate in the challenge," says Dykstra. "There were obviously a number of great projects this year, and I feel very fortunate to have been selected as one of the winners."

"We want UW–Madison and Wisconsin to lead the nation in entrepreneurial thinking and creativity, " notes Hoslet. "Unique opportunities like the 100-Hour Wiscontrepreneur Challenge can help us to bring energy and excitement to the effort."