Platteville nanotech firm wins guv’s business plan contest

MILWAUKEE – Graphene Solutions, a nanotechnology company that features a 17-year-old student on its scientific team, is the grand prize winner in the 2008 Wisconsin Governor’s Business Plan Contest.


 


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 Stanford University, is co-inventor of the firm’s platform for dissolving carbon nanotubes, graphene nanosheets and other materials so they can be purified and spread in a layer one atom thick.


 


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 Tom Still, president of the Wisconsin Technology Council. The Tech Council produces the contest.


Graphene Solutions grew out of work Hamilton, Streich and other collaborators published this spring in Advanced Materials, a scientific journal. Hamilton’s lab has dissolved graphene and made single-particle carbon nanotubes that don’t clump together in bundles, something other scientists have been unable to do.


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 Sturgeon Bay company will design and distribute solar home packages that rely on patent-pending computer modeling and a unique combination of building materials. Second place in this category was awarded to Keith Agoada, Sky Vegetables, a rooftop produce farming business; and third place went to Matthew Barbian, Helios America, which is a camping gear company.


 


Information Technology: Dan van der Weide, Optametra. This Verona start-up firm has developed complex optical modulation test equipment that can hasten deployment of long-haul optical fiber, which is used to transmit data.  Second place was awarded to Chao Xie, GeoNet: Location-oriented Mobile Social Network; and third place went to Daniel Kunkel, ESAN.


 


Life Sciences: Jeff Williams, Platypus. This Madison firm is developing a handheld nitric oxide monitor with liquid crystal sensor technology to provide low-cost, convenient tests for asthma and other diseases. Second place in this category was awarded to Timothy Lohman, AfibAlert, a medical device company; and third place went to Barbara Israel, Echometrix, an ultrasound diagnosis idea.


 


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 Milwaukee. They will share in $200,000 in prizes, including cash, offers of a year’s free rent in a business or tech park, legal services, accounting services, information technology services and media-related services. Please see a full list of sponsors below.


 


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 BPC are: Aberdean Consulting LLC; American Transmission Co.;  API Software; Associated Bank; The Boldt Company; CG Schmidt Co.; EarthIT; Fitchburg Technology Campus; Foley & Lardner LLP; The Gialamas Company; J.P. Cullen & Sons; Johnson Block CPAs; Journal Interactive, the digital media division of Journal Communications, Inc.; Loughrin Accounting & Tax Service; Marshfield Clinic Applied Sciences; Madison Gas & Electric Co.; McAllen TECH Campus; Michael Best & Friedrich LLP; Midwest Airlines; Palo Alto Software, Inc.; Quarles & Brady LLP; Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren S.C.; Ruedebusch Development & Construction; Smith & Gesteland LLP; State of Wisconsin Investment Board; TDS Telecom; University Research Park; Wisconsin Department of Commerce; WisBusiness.com; Wisconsin Angel Network; Whyte Hirschboeck Dudek S.C.; and the Wisconsin Technology Council.


 


Finalists in the fifth annual contest are:


 


Daniel Kunkel              ESAN (mailbox monitoring)                                           Eau Claire


William Schwan            Mycophyte Discovery (cystic fibrosis drug)                     La Crosse


Jingxi Sun                     Semiconductor Lighting (street lights)                             Madison


Matthew Barbian          Helios America (camping gear)                                      Madison


Scott Daigger                Sandbox International (innovation process)                      Madison


Chao Xie                      GeoNet (location-oriented mobile social network)            Madison


Jeffrey Williams            Portable Asthma Monitor                                               Madison


David Zethmayr            High-speed data transfer                                                Mauston


Barbara Israel               Echometrix (ultrasound diagnosis)                                   Mt. Horeb


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                                      Racine


Ann Hippensteel            Solar Flair (TM) (photovoltaic sculpture)             Sturgeon Bay


Van Krzywicki              Pea Pod Homes LLC                                                    Sturgeon Bay


Timothy Lohman           AfibAlert (medical device)                                             Sussex


Daniel van der Weide    Optametra (complex signal analysis)                               Verona


James Schroeder           Personalized Orthopaedic Implants                                 Waukesha


Michael Miller               NxtMile (over-40 running shoe)                                      Waunakee


Brian Wroblewski          Golf Pipeline (Online tee time reservations)                     Milwaukee


Chris Meyer                  Parallel Kingdom (Online role play game)                       Edgerton


Tim Richter                   Keywee (personal computing experience)                       Milwaukee


Keith Agoada                Sky Vegetables (rooftop produce farming)                      Madison


 


 


 


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