intnews092704

Following up with 2003 I2P™ Global Teams and Their Products

September 27, 2004

Imperial College London

Product: Respiron Technology’s product was Inhalit, a device designed to improve the delivery of inhaled drugs for the relief of asthma. Its target markets are the UK National Health Service, insurance companies and HMOs in the US.

Team: Donna Winderbank-Scott, Vanh Dang and Rachel Hames

After winning the inaugural 2003 I2P™ Global, the team members returned to the UK thrilled with the prize. But for Vanh and Donna, the final year of their medical studies at Imperial beckoned, and they had to suspend business formation to concentrate on working for their exams. Rachel, however, continues to sharpen her entrepreneurial instincts. She and her team were among ten finalist teams at Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew Global Business Plan Competition, 2004, with needleShield, a new hypodermic safety needle whose simple design builds on existing technology to provide a cheap and effective answer to the global needle safety problem. The Daily Telegraph, the country’s largest-selling broadsheet newspaper, recently named Rachel one of the UK’s top ten student entrepreneurs of the year.

Purdue University

Product: Judicial Database Systems (JDS) team custom designed software for county probation departments alleviating resources spent by county governments.

Team: Chris Reffkin & Bill Dwyer

After the 2003 I2P™ Global the JDS EPICS (Engineering Projects in Community Service) team entered the 2004 EPICS I2P™ Competition here at Purdue in March 2004 and won the first-place prize of $15,000. They have since gone on to form a company call Data Tracking Systems and are negotiating a license from Purdue for the software their team developed as part of their EPICS project at Purdue. They expect their first customers to be Probation Departments in counties around Indiana. They will then branch out into other states and other products.

Stanford University

Product: Mama Mikes Electronic Remittance Vouchers team is a service for African immigrants in North America who send remittances to their family and friends in Africa (specifically; Kenya, Ghana and Nigeria)

Team: Segeni Ng’ethe, Fred Swaniker

After the 2003 I2P™ Global the MamaMikes team went back to the drawing board to redesign their initial concept. The team has now come out with a more accurate and specific service that caters to the immigrant African population in North America & Europe who remit over $3bn annually to Africa. The new service scheduled for release in the 4th quarter of 2004 has developed an electronic solution that allows immigrants to send money online redeemable through a cell phone. This will be a unique and heavily anticipated service.

The University of Texas at Austin

Product: The Advanced Laser Composites team’s technology involved the rapid and economical manufacture of reaction-bonded silicon carbide parts. The target market was the $375 million U.S. metal casting industry.

Team: Scott Evans & Donnie Vanelli

Prior to the fall 2003 I2P™ Global graduate students, Scott Evans and Donnie Vanelli were finalist in the spring 2003 UT Austin I2P™. At the UT Austin I2P™ Competition, one of the judges had experience in there are of technology and recognized the value of the idea and the commitment of the team. He and other angel investors decided to back the team. What quickly followed was the type of positive momentum that can marshal resources and stakeholders to help move an idea forward. The students incorporated, received angel funding, and obtained a license from the University. They then funded research that initiated the building of their company and advances the University’s research efforts for this technology. Recently their new company, Advanced Laser Materials, Inc. made its first commercial sales.

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Partners and Sponsors

Selig Fund in Entrepreneurial Studies

Roden Center of Entrepreneurship