USI students take top honors at Startup Weekend Evansville

University of Southern Indiana students and their teammates made up the Medical Intelligence team that placed first at Startup Weekend Evansville 6.0. USI students were also part of the teams that placed second and third. There were more than 38 registered student participants, including 24 USI students and student alumni.

Startup Weekend Evansville (SWE) is a 54-hour event in which developers, designers, marketers, product managers, and startup enthusiasts come together to share ideas, form teams, build products and launch startups. More than 100 individuals, including coaches and judges, participated in this year's event, held in USI's Business and Engineering Center.

The idea behind the Medical Intelligence team was a database solution that interlinks patient health information to health care facilities and hospitals across the United States. Having all medical information readily accessible eliminates hours and even days of waiting for patient medical records to be sent, thereby allowing physicians to treat patients much more quickly especially in emergency situations.

As the first place team, Medical Intelligence receives an impressive package to further develop their idea:

• 12 hours of marketing consulting from Thrive Marketing Strategies
• 2 years of secure website hosting and $500 of software services from Lieberman Technologies
• 4 hours of intellectual property consulting from Martin IP Law Group
• Exclusive interview podcast from Evansville Podcast
• 6-month membership to The Station Coworking Space
• Priority consideration for Indiana University Maurer School of Law Intellectual Property Clinic
• 4 hours of financial consulting from Solomon Business Solutions
• An exclusive pitch opportunity for the top winning ideas at Evansville Tech on Tap
• 12 hours of idea development consulting from the USI Eagle Innovation Accelerator
• 4 hours of product design development consulting from Maple Hill Engineering

Taking second place was team The Grill Doctor. Their proposed brush not only scrapes grills clean, but is magnetized to eliminate the dangers of a stray bristle or rust remaining behind that could get into grilled food.

The third place team pitched an idea called LOOP, a social media platform that allows users to post digitally using augmented reality in 3D space, similar to Pokemon Go. LOOP helps users connect to people locally and truly interact socially.

Other ideas that made it to the final pitches included:

• Baby Bottle Cinema - a set up to engage babies during bottle feedings so they are less likely to be distracted and therefore miss feedings
• Bloom - a database driven alumni and student engagement tool for universities
• Stop II Go - a system to store and transfer potential energy to power cars efficiently during acceleration.

Judges included Brad Warthan, principal lead for KPI Factory; Allen Patterson, COO of Flanders; Ashley Watson, marketing coordinator for USI Outreach & Engagement; Tim Wilhelmus, ‎innovation, curriculum and technology specialist at Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation; Zac Parsons, entrepreneur; Jarin Jaffee, head of school at Evansville Day School.

Keynote speakers for the weekend included Dr. Mohammed Khayum, dean of USI's Romain College of Business; Evansville Mayor Lloyd Winnecke; and Andy Niemeier, director of human resources and finance for Azzip Pizza.

SWE 6.0 was sponsored by the University of Southern Indiana's Romain College of Business, Vectren, Lieberman Technologies, Growth Alliance for Greater Evansville, and Heritage Federal Credit Union. In-kind sponsorships included Evansville Tech-on-Tap, Evansville Podcast, Innovation Station Coworking Space, IU Maurer School of Law, Thrive marketing Strategies, Solomon Business Solutions, Better Image Photography & Video, Maple Hill Engineering, Martin IP Solutions, and USI Eagle Innovation Accelerator.

Previous financial sponsorship for SWE has made possible several new ideas impacting the region, including Honey + Moon Coffee Co. in Evansville, Evansville Tech-on-Tap, The Station coworking space, Night Vision Goggle Gloves, Guardian Angel law enforcement drone surveillance, and the Lullafi baby sleep device.

"Moving into our sixth year, SWE remains the largest event of its kind in Indiana serving over 24 counties and neighboring states," said Bryan Bourdeau, event co-founder, co-organizer and instructor in business at the Romain College of Business. "SWE provides experiential education, networking, mentorship, coaching and immersion for USI students, faculty and regional participants. With more than 600 attendees and participants, SWE has become a prominent Southwestern Indiana innovation hub within our entrepreneurial ecosystem."

Founded in 2007, Startup Weekend is billed as "the world's largest community of passionate entrepreneurs," with events held in cities throughout the world. In its sixth year, Startup Weekend Evansville is the largest event of its kind in Indiana.