The company, led by UW-Platteville chemistry professor Jim Hamilton and CEO Philip Jackson, has patent-pending technology that could transform electronics, optics and materials science. Philip Streich, a student who takes classes at Platteville and online through
Fifty-four judges took part in a process that progressively narrowed a field of 250 entries to 51 semi-finalists, 23 finalists and four category winners in Advanced Manufacturing, Business Services, Information Technology and Life Sciences. Graphene Solutions was the winner in the Advanced Manufacturing category and will collect cash and in-kind prizes worth $50,000.
“Graphene Solutions proves that game-changing technologies are being produced on UW System campuses as well as the UW-Madison. It also demonstrates the value to our economy of supporting researchers as they move these technologies from the lab to the marketplace,” said
Graphene Solutions grew out of work
Electrons travel 100 times faster in graphene (one-atom-thick sheets of carbon that form in an incredibly strong lattice) than in silicon. Possible uses of graphene range from television screens that are no thicker than a poster, to computer chips, batteries, sensors, solar cells and medical devices. Winners in other categories were:
Business Services: Van Krzywicki, Pea Pod Homes LLC: This
Information Technology: Dan van der Weide, Optametra. This
Life Sciences: Jeff Williams, Platypus. This
Advanced Manufacturing: Second place in this category went toKimberly Trygar, Semi-Automatic Pill and Liquid Dispensers; third place went to Jingxi Sun of Semiconductor Lighting, an energy-saving technology for street lights.
Winners in the contest were announced Monday at the Wisconsin Entrepreneurs’ Conference in
This year’s crop of finalists also includes products or services in energy generation or conservation, “social networking” building, drug research and production and water treatment technology. Other novel ideas in the final round include an online role-playing game, an online tee time reservation system, a running shoe for over-40 athletes and photovoltaic sculpture that generates electricity and doubles as an outdoor ornament.
Contestants submitted a 20-page business plan for review by a panel of 54 judges established by the Tech Council, which is the independent, non-profit and non-partisan science and technology adviser to the governor and the Legislature. Each plan described the core product or service, defined the customer base, estimated the size of the market, identified competition, listed members of the management team and provided key financial data.
The finalists’ executive summaries as well as those filed by semi-finalists are available for inspection by accredited investors through the Wisconsin Angel Network, which has 27 member angel networks, private equity funds or corporate strategic partners.
Sponsors for the 2008
Finalists in the fifth annual contest are:
Daniel Kunkel ESAN (mailbox monitoring)
William Schwan Mycophyte Discovery (cystic fibrosis drug)
Jingxi Sun Semiconductor Lighting (street lights)
Matthew Barbian Helios
Scott Daigger Sandbox International (innovation process)
Chao Xie GeoNet (location-oriented mobile social network)
Jeffrey Williams Portable Asthma Monitor
David Zethmayr High-speed data transfer Mauston
Barbara Israel Echometrix (ultrasound diagnosis)
Peter Petit V-Glass (energy-saving glass) Pewaukee
James Hamilton Graphene Solutions (nanotechnology) Platteville
Kimberly Trygar Semi-Automatic Pill/Liquid Dispenser Pleasant Prairie
Sheila Milbrath 2DX2 Geothermal Systems, Inc
Ann Hippensteel Solar Flair (TM) (photovoltaic sculpture)
Van Krzywicki Pea Pod Homes LLC
Timothy Lohman AfibAlert (medical device)
Daniel van der Weide Optametra (complex signal analysis)
James Schroeder Personalized Orthopaedic Implants
Michael Miller NxtMile (over-40 running shoe) Waunakee
Brian Wroblewski Golf Pipeline (Online tee time reservations)
Chris Meyer
Tim Richter Keywee (personal computing experience)
Keith Agoada Sky Vegetables (rooftop produce farming)
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