Rithmio, AVriculture, and Inscites win big at 2014 Cozad Competition

Three startups with ties to MechSE won major prizes this year at the esteemed Cozad New Venture Competition.

The Cozad grand prizes were split into two tracks this year—teams commercializing university-funded research and teams commercializing their own ideas.

In the university-funded category, data analytics software company Rithmio won the first place grand prize, including $20,000 and legal services from Meyer Capel. Adam Tilton, PhD candidate in mechanical science and engineering, co-founded Rithmio with MechSE associate professor Prashant Mehta. The company’s first focus is on a gesture-recognition software system for wearable devices.

In the commercially-funded category, Inscites Research, Inc. took home the second place prize of $7,000 plus legal services from Meyer Capel and acceptance into the I-Start Program at EnterpriseWorks in the Research Park. One of the three team members for the Cozad Competition is Ben Blaiszik, who earned his PhD in theoretical and applied mechanics in 2009. Inscites is a National Science Foundation-funded cloud-sharing startup developed to integrate into a researcher’s workflow and allows real-time, secure knowledge management and collaboration.

Also in this category, AVriculture took fourth place, winning $3,000 plus legal services from Singleton Law Firm. The AVriculture team of three includes Samantha Knoll and Brian McGuigan, both PhD candidates in mechanical science and engineering. Through autonomous aerial vehicles integrated with advanced imaging technology, AVriculture creates a continuous data link between farm owners, operators, and the land, allowing farm operators to be in “many places at once.” The goals are optimized workflow, enhanced yields, and increased profit.

Additionally, AVriculture won the EnterpriseWorks Incubator Prize, which includes incubation space and resources in the Research Park for 12 months, student-shared office and/or lab space, and counsel from the Entrepreneurs-in-Residence who meet with student teams regularly.

All 18 finalist teams also won services from Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp. and one year of Wolfram|Alpha Pro.

The 2014 Cozad New Venture Competition, now in its 14th year, awarded funding and prizes of $185,000 and started with 113 teams competing. Since 2000, it has awarded close to $1 million in funding and in-kind prizes.

Named after V. Dale Cozad to honor his memory, hard work, dedication, and entrepreneurial spirit, the Cozad Competition is designed to encourage students to create new sustainable businesses. The competition offers teams assistance in the form of mentors, workshops, courses, pitching skills, customer development, and other resources to help guide them through the phases of venture creation.

The Technology Entrepreneur Center, which administers the Cozad Competition as well as the Illinois Innovation Prize, was created in 2000 in the College of Engineering to provide students and faculty with the resources, skills, and experiences necessary to become the next generation of world-changing innovators and entrepreneurs.