FIU technologies contribute to first and second place at StartUp Quest

By Andrew Green

Teams representing biomedical technologies developed by FIU professors in the College of Engineering & Computing finished first and second at the annual StartUp Quest Pitch Day.

Established at the University of Florida and funded by the U.S. Department of Labor, StartUp Quest is a nationally recognized entrepreneurship training program. Although highly qualified, participants in the StartUp Quest program are underemployed or unemployed professionals. The program is aimed at helping to further develop their skills in entrepreneurship with the hope that they will become self-employed or gain employment with a start-up company.

The winning StartUp Quest team reconvened recently at FIU’s Engineering Center to deliver its winning pitch for a second time, this time for Interim Dean Ranu Jung. She served as an advisor to the group, and it was her research around which they built their project. Above, team member Keith Hoffman holds a prosthetic designed in Jung’s lab.

StartUp Quest uses technologies from the different state universities in multiple disciplines ranging from software engineering to bioscience. At this year’s Broward Pitch Day, FIU sponsored three teams. Each team is paired with two mentors who are CEOs, entrepreneurs, and business people from various backgrounds. The mentors have extensive experience in bringing technology to market and provide support to team members throughout the 10-week preparation process.

The 10-week process is intense. Participants are introduced to the technology and  then create investor pitches and business plans, all within a limited time period. FIU biomedical engineering professors Anuradha Godavarty and Ranu Jung, who is also chair of the biomedical engineering department and interim dean of the college, both spent time meeting with the teams and helping them to understand the complex science behind their research.

“For people from varied backgrounds to come together in only 10 weeks, to learn the technology, to execute and win is remarkable,” said Godavarty, whose research was presented by the second place winners, team LightScan Health Systems.

The winning pitch was presented by team Hercules MedSystems. The group focused on an advanced prosthetic system to restore sensation to an upper-extremity amputee, technology created in the Adaptive Neural Systems (ANS) laboratory, which Jung directs. The system has sensors embedded into the prosthetic hand to help provide the amputee with the sensations of fingertip force and hand opening. Its development received federal support from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering and the National Institute of Child Health Development.

Pitch day presenter and team Hercules’ VP of Marketing Brandy Leighton described her experience working with the technology. “I believe this is a breakthrough innovation that has the potential to send shockwaves of awe through the prosthetic limb community as it provides the science to create a true bionic arm that is thought-controlled with an authentic sense of touch.  This technology could also lead the way to tremendous advances in the treatment of orthopedic injuries and neurodegenerative diseases in the future.”

The second place winners, team LightScan Health Systems, worked with Godavarty and her research on a hand-held breast cancer pre-screening device. The group created a business plan and an investor pitch that focused on the affordability and non-invasive nature of the device. It has the potential to provide widespread pre-screening to breast cancer patients throughout the world. This technology received federal support from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

This marked consecutive years that teams presenting FIU technology took first and second prize.

“It was great to see the three FIU teams in the StartUp Quest program do so well.  I would like to thank the professors involved with the FIU technologies that were part of the program for taking the time to assist the teams with their preparations.  This is another way FIU technologies are helping our communities,” said FIU’s Director of the Office of Technology Management and Commercialization Peter Hernandez.

Patricia Glass contributed to this article.