Dickinson College Innovation Competition Spurs Student Startups in Education, Health Care and Sustainable Transportation
Members of Team Health Care Marketplace present their idea to a panel of judges.
Record-breaking number of student teams pitch their entrepreneurial ideas to alumni, faculty
by Kandace Kohr
The 2019 Innovation Competition at Dickinson recently crowned three winners after rounds of rigorous competition and workshops. This year, the competition welcomed a record number of teams, with a total of 13 competitors.
"The goal of the competition is to offer a competitive platform for entrepreneurial students to pursue an idea that they are passionate about," said Maddy Braybrooke '19 (sociology), a student coordinator for the competition. "Working in interdisciplinary teams, and in collaboration with mentors, students develop their idea over three rounds of competition—idea round, value proposition round, viability and scalability round—to create a business plan. The level of detail increases with each submission, and three teams are then selected to pitch their idea to a panel of alumni, faculty and staff judges in the final round."
The competition hosted three teams in the final round.
- Health Care Marketplace is a navigable index of healthcare providers, procedures and prices to provide transparency to consumers. Team members included Sophie Kivlehan '21 (biochemistry & molecular biology), Josh Lesser '20 (Middle East studies), Andrew Tartaro '21 (physics) and Ellis Tucci '20 (economics). The team's mentor was Brad Hughes '90, founder of Housefly Drones and director of operations at STS VIP Helicopter Flights.
- Infinity is an educational center in Hangzhou, China, that provides young adults with education in parenting skills and ways to develop healthy family relationships. This idea was presented by Ariel Li '19 (quantitative economics, international studies), Min Xie '19 (East Asian studies, economics) and Moyi Tian '19 (mathematics, physics). Their mentor was Yvonne Buysman '94, national director of sales and development at Apple, Inc.
- Electric Cycle Company (ECCO) is a business that constructs, rents and sells electric bicycles (e-bikes) to provide an affordable alternative to carbon-based transportation and support an equitable and inclusive Carlisle community. Team members were Madie Ritter '19 (environmental science), Mariam Kapanadze '19 (international business & management), Nikoloz Tsagareli '21 (physics) and Alexander Haver '20 (environmental science). Nick Hunter '98, director and cofounder of pureintegration!, mentored the team.
The first place team was ECCO, who won $4,000. Judges noted the team's extensive research, deep contemplation of their eco-bikes potential effect on the Carlisle community and well-rounded presentation. Second place, which carried a $2,000 prize, went to Health Care Marketplace, followed by Infinity, which took home a $1,000 prize.
Judging the competition was Josh Levie '06, founder and CEO of Brunch Digital; Sara Love, director of Catamaran, a Harrisburg-based accelerator; Associate Professor of Philosophy Amy McKiernan; and Associate Professor of International Studies and International Business & Management Michael Fratantuono.
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Published May 9, 2019
