A delegation of Michigan Tech faculty, staff and students painted Traverse City black and gold during the inaugural Northern Michigan Startup Week. From showcasing Brad King’s ventures in space through Orbion, to highlighting top emerging and market-ready technologies from University research labs, Michigan Tech innovation was on full display at events occurring throughout the week (May 9-15, 2022).
At TCNewTech’s University Idea Showcase, prizes were sponsored in part by Michigan Tech’s College of Business. Husky Innovate students Bayle Golden (master’s, engineering management) and Rourke Sylvain (master’s, biomedical engineering) took on students from universities around the state in a pitch competition. Golden placed second and was named audience favorite, receiving $2,000 in total prizes for SafeRow, an innovative wearable device designed to keep children safe. Sylvain also gave a compelling pitch for imi (integrated molecular innovations), an electrochemical biosensor for T4 detection. The event can now be viewed on YouTube.
After pitching, both Golden and Sylvain spent an additional 54 hours at the TechStars hackathon and pitched new ideas to a panel of judges. Both represented Tech well.
“We are grateful to Michigan Tech for their active engagement and support throughout our inaugural startup week,” remarked Eric Roberts ‘93, executive director of 20Fathoms startup incubator. “It’s a fantastic encapsulation of the growing partnership between our communities to propel innovation and economic development.”
Michigan Tech’s presence was an internal collaboration among the Office of Innovation and Commercialization, College of Business, Husky Innovate, Center for Educational Outreach and others. Thanks go out to 20Fathoms, TCNewTech and TechStars for hosting the events, as well as to Husky Innovate and the Department of Biomedical Engineering for making our students’ participation possible. A special thank-you goes to Jay Meldrum (KRC) at Michigan Tech’s Grand Traverse Research Workspace for facilitating all these connections.
By Husky Innovate, Pavlis Honors College.
See also Rourke Sylvain Pitches a TCNewTech University Idea.