Scheller Students Shine in 2016 Ideas to Serve Competition

The Georgia Institute of Technology – Scheller College of Business recently hosted the 2016 Ideas to Serve (I2S) Competition, inviting students to use creativity and technology to solve contemporary issues.

The competition, which held its finals on April 8th at Scheller, was open to all Georgia Tech students and even recent alumni. Awards included more than $10,000 in cash prizes, but also the opportunity to connect with professionals within the Atlanta social enterprise sector, who served as judges, sponsors and mentors for the event.

One of the top teams at this years’ event was Team Bac-Off, whose leader — materials engineering student Shawn Gregory — won the Ideas Track for early stage projects. Other winners included Team Memora Health and its leader Manav Sevak, who took the top prize in the Advanced Track. Team Eating Right, a mobile health app serving diabetes patients, won the Best Poster Prize.

Team Bac-Off proposed a long lasting antibacterial solution for textiles which hopes to reduce infections acquired within hospitals. According to creator Shawn Gregory, the product was invented when his supervisor’s son caught an infection while in the hospital, and Gregory put his chemistry expertise to work. Alongside mentors from Scheller, the imagined product was able to become a reality. With their winnings from the competition, Team Bac-Off intends to reinvest the money into their company for patenting and licensing the product.

For Team Memora Health, the cash winnings will be used to run pilot studies with academic hospitals in order to validate their product clinically.

Jason Chernock of Medshare, judge for the Ideas Track, has been attending the I2S Competition now for several years. “It never ceases to inspire,” he said. “It’s no small thing that an institute of Georgia Tech’s caliber offers a platform for students to share their ideas for changing the world. I look forward to providing any guidance or assistance I can as they move their ideas from concept to reality.”

regions: Atlanta

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