The UNM Anderson School of Management recently announced the winners of its 2008 UNM Technology Business Plan Competition. Capturing first place honors was Advanced Pulmonary Solutions (APS). Team members Kevin Stevenson, Robin Perini, and James Baldwin won the $25,000 Michael Gallegos Prize for Entrepreneurship as well as legal services from Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck.
Their winning plan aims to commercialize innovative, non-invasive diagnostic tools for a wide array of bacterial infections of the pulmonary system. Stevenson said being able to receive feedback and recommendations from world-class judges was a once in a lifetime opportunity.
"The business plan competition was great because it provides a very real example of how different parts of a business work together," said Stevenson. "In our courses, focus is usually limited to the material being studied at any given time. Being able to experience how everything comes together - technology, finance, marketing, organizational behavior - in a very real way proved to be an outstanding learning experience."
Surya Skincare team members Steven Renfro, William Reichard, Miles Nelson, Klaus Mueller and Peter Duselis took home the second place TVC Lockheed Martin $10,000 Prize for their plan that builds on patented nanotechnology to offer consumers the first-ever optically transparent sunscreen able to claim complete protection against cancer-causing UV radiation.
Third place went to Meghan Norvell and Isaac Estrada of ABQari Wellness, who presented plans to produce innovative, high quality nutraceutical compounds at the cutting edge of nutritional science. These compounds are designed to reduce the risk of such diseases as prostate cancer, inflammation, and connective tissue injury. The pair received the $5,000 vSpring Capital Prize.
In all, 10 teams competed in the third annual UNM Technology Business Plan Competition. In addition to the $40,000 in prize money, venture capital partners also offered more than $100,000 in seed funding as incentives for the students looking to form their own high-tech startups in New Mexico.
Dr. Sul Kassicieh, Anderson Endowed Chair in Economic Development and competition founder, says economic development's central theme is the creation of wealth and high-paying jobs.
"In what better way can UNM contribute to New Mexico's success than by using our technological expertise to start new enterprises that potentially provide us with both?" asks Kassicieh. "UNM students increase our labor pool when they graduate, but they can enrich that pool for themselves and future generations when they use our technology resources to start companies that bring new jobs to others and wealth to themselves. The Center for Support of Economic Development and the Management of Technology program at Anderson match students with real-life projects that create revenue locally and allow us to compete globally."
The winners were announced at a banquet at the DoubleTree Hotel on Friday, April 11. Sherman McCorkle, President and Chief Executive Officer of Technology Ventures Corporation, delivered the keynote address and Michelle Coons, Commercial Banking Manager with Bank of the West, was the emcee for the event.
This year more business community partners and Anderson faculty were involved in mentoring the budding entrepreneurs than ever before, and the field of competitors was the strongest yet in the competition's three year history.