I2P Regional Qualifiers Head to St. Louis

In October of 2009, the Technology Entrepreneur Center (TEC) held its campus round of the annual Idea to Product® competition (I2P®).  This competition is a way for students on the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus with ideas for a product or service to present these ideas, receive feedback and further develop the product or service. I2P also offers the larger technology and financial communities the opportunity to get an early view of these new ideas which could help jump start the development process. The goal of the competition is to educate and develop the next generation of technology entrepreneurs.  

Students and teams who do well are asked to advance to the I2P regional competition for Illinois and Missouri, which is held on the St. Louis University campus. This year (from the University of Illinois) there were three groups that advanced to the regional competition. The qualifying teams will have their travel expenses to Missouri paid for by the Technology Entrepreneur Center (TEC). The TEC faculty and staff will also help them prepare their pitches for their regional round.   

Appiquity, the qualifying team led by Ryan Benton, offers Appiquity SDK. This is a set of integrated tools that can develop, maintain and manage mobile applications that can be used on a range of mobile platforms. Appiquity's technology is the first to allow Apps to be available automatically across different operating systems.

Another qualifying team is Citus Medical, Inc. which is headed by Andrew Naber and Dan Knipmeyer. This team provides diagnostic solutions for rural and developing countries through low-cost, single-use blood panels and affordable automated analysis devices. Their Seek Diagnostics Solution allows for customizable test types and amounts depending on the prevalent diseases in the particular target market.

The final advancing team is UTicketIt which was created by the pair Ashton and Ryan Clark. UTicketIt is an online tool that connects event organizers with ticket buyers for risk-free ticket sales and event management. Event organizers can create an event and begin selling tickets using the built-in escrow system that protects ticket buyers in case of cancellation.

The teams will be competing in St. Louis on March 26 and 27. Semi-final presentations are on March 26^th and Finals are on March 27^th. Their proposals are reviewed by a blue-ribbon panel and given feedback on their ideas. Winning Regional submissions receive cash prizes, and become eligible for invitation to the Global I2P Competition at the University of Texas at Austin on November 5^th and 6^th. I2P is a registered trademark of the University of Texas at Austin.

For more information about the competition, please visit www.ideatoproduct.org.