The Tufts University Entrepreneurial Leadership Program on Tuesday announced the winners of its $100k New Ventures Competition.
The competition, which celebrated its 10th anniversary this year, was divided into two categories, including the classic track consisting of businesses geared toward creating private value, and a social track consisting of businesses geared toward helping society, according to the competition website. Sponsored through the Gordon Institute, the competition serves to connect undergraduates, graduates faculty and alumni with other businesses to become entrepreneurs and business leaders.
Of the twelve finalists who presented on Tuesday, one winner was chosen in each category. Benevolent Technologies for Health (BeTH), a company that makes prosthetic devices, received first place in the classic track and ScriptEd, a nonprofit organization that works with under resourced schools, won first place on the social track.
Jeremy Jo, a Tufts graduate student and one of the organizers behind BeTH, explained how receiving the award money will help advance his company's project.
Winning the Tufts 100k is a great validation of the work the team has put into the project and the product, Jo told the Daily in an email. The resources will enable us to continue product development, clinical testing and hire interns for the summer.
Jo said his organization will work to raise funding further to bring the product to market.
The other first place winner, Becca Novak (LA '10), the educational manager at ScriptEd, explained that ScriptEd offers computer programming classes in low-income communities.
Classes are taught by experienced computer programming professionals on a volunteer basis, ensuring that students not only have exposure to the most up-to-date knowledge available, but also role models and potential mentors in the field, Novak told the Daily in an email. In addition, ScriptEd links students to internship opportunities to gain professional experience in which to apply their coding skills.
Novak said she hopes that the award money will allow her team to reach more students and have a greater impact.
My goal is that ScriptEd continues to grow, so that we can ensure that anyone who wants a quality computer science education can have one, especially students who are typically under-represented in the field, she said. I would love to see us continue to expand to serve more student in more schools.
In addition to the 100k Competition, the Gordon Institute recently announced the winners of its Ideas Competition, which awarded three winning groups $1000 for their proposals. One of the three groups consisted of Thormika Keo and Diana Winston, a clinical associate and a clinical instructor at the Tufts Medical Center. Their device, called the Hadori Catheter, would help doctors better see the inside of the intestine while performing colonoscopies.
We are developing a novel medical device that assists colonoscopies by augmenting the visualized areas of the intestine, Keo said. I am astounded and grateful that we have made it this far. We are hoping that our contribution can make colonoscop[ies] safer and more effective.
