April 28, 2009

Hattiesburg, MS - Noetic Technologies, Inc. and The Area Development Partnership hosted the 5th annual “Invent Your Future!” competition on April 28.  The contest included 8 teams competing for a total of $20,000 in prize money.  The event took place on USM’s campus in the Thad Cochran Center.  The purpose of the competition is to promote innovation and entrepreneurship by showcasing inventions of high school and college students. 

“A community, a region, a state, like an individual, creates its own future,” said Dr. Angeline Godwin, President of The Area Development Partnership.  “The ADP embraces the opportunity of ‘growing our own’ as we promote promising innovations and expand our economic network.”

Winners of the 2009 “Invent Your Future!” competition are:

$10,000 1st Place:    Shawna Balof

Company: Ru Catalysts Technologies, LLC
Invention: Removable Ruthenium Catalysts for Pharmaceutical Applications

Ru Catalysts Technologies’ winning invention is a series of Ruthenium catalysts for pharmaceutical applications that can easily be removed from pharmaceutical products. These catalyst designs allow for simpler, cheaper, and faster purification of pharmaceutical products produced with these catalysts while greatly reducing the waste generated as a result of the purification process.

Shawna Balof received her B.S. in Chemistry from Southeastern Louisiana University in 2002 and is now a Ph.D. candidate at USM in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. She is a member of the Schanz research group. Her area of research is in the synthesis and testing of pH-responsive Ruthenium olefin metathesis catalysts. She has previous experience in industry, and is a married mother of three who resides in Picayune, MS. 

$6,000 2nd Place: Nimesh Porbandarwalla and Russ Daniel
Company: Reactive Optics
Invention: Blood Sugar Optical Meter (BlSOM)

Reactive Optics builds home medical devices using its innovative photonic integrated circuit technology. Using this novel technology, Reactive Optics is developing a home blood glucose meter that measures glucose concentrations in diabetics more accurately and reliably than competing products and eliminates expensive glucose testing strips which reduces the diabetic related supply cost by 75%.

Nimesh Porbandarwalla is originally from Mumbai, India. He moved to Austin, TX when he was eighteen to attend the University of Texas at Austin. He received a B.S. in Computer Sciences from the University of Texas at Austin in 1999 and is currently pursuing a MBA from SMU’s Cox School of Business in Marketing and Strategy where he is the President of the Strategy and Entrepreneurship club.

Russ Daniel is from Tyler, Texas and received his Bachelors of Science in Biology from Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas. He is currently pursuing his MBA degree from Southern Methodist University's Cox School of Business where he is also the President of the Healthcare/Biotech Club.


$4,000 3rd Place:  Benny Anderson, Jr.                                            
Invention: The Anderson Capsule

This invention is a hand held device that could expose latent fingerprints at the crime scene without sending the item in question to a laboratory. The technology has the potential to save the industry millions of dollars per year, as well as save much needed time during most investigations. Anderson’s invention could completely replace all known methods of developing latent fingerprints by improving the developing time, and eliminating the need to send unnecessary items into processing for fingerprints.

Benny Anderson, Jr. is from Beaumont, Mississippi and is currently a Junior at the University of Southern Mississippi.  He developed the idea while working on his associates degree in Criminal Justice at Jones county Junior College, and has expanded on it while enrolled in USM’s Forensic Science program. The concept has been developed and is undergoing further testing.

Pictured left to right are the 2009 “Invent Your Future!” winners:
Nimesh Porbandarwalla, Shawna Balof, Benny Anderson Jr., and Russ Daniel

The winners of the competition will utilize the prize money to further research and develop their inventions.

The keynote address during the awards presentation was given by Mr. Nathan McNeill, Co-Founder Vice President of Product Strategy for Bomgar (Jackson, MS).  Sponsors for the event were:


About “Invent Your Future!”:

“Invent Your Future!” is an annual invention competition which began in 2005.  The technology-oriented competition is designed to identify innovative ideas in Mississippi and the surrounding region, and to foster their commercial potential.  A total of $60,000 in winnings have been distributed since “Invent Your Future!” began.

 “Invent Your Future!” serves as a launching point for many inventors and led to the formation of several new companies.  In total, four companies have been formed, employing a total of 3 people in Hattiesburg.  These companies have also secured federal research grants totaling over $400,000 . Winners from the past three Invent Your Future contests have enjoyed further success in other competitions such as the Memphis Fed Ex Business Plan Competition and the Mississippi Technology Alliance Business Plan Competition.

About Noetic Technologies:
Noetic Technologies, Inc. began as an initiative of The University of Southern Mississippi and is geared toward marketing and commercialization of the university’s technology.  Since 2004, Noetic has played a vital role in bringing ideas to the marketplace for several high tech startup companies. “Connecting vision to reality for technology-minded innovators is our primary focus”, explains President Les Goff.  Noetic’s management team comprises over fifty years of combined experience in market research, product development, process management, and marketing strategies.

About The ADP:

The Area Development Partnership is a private, not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving the quality of life for citizens of the Greater Hattiesburg Area through community and economic development.  The ADP stimulates economic growth through the resources of its members and partners leading to an improved economic well-being and quality of life for Greater Hattiesburg Area citizens.

For More Information:

Christian J. Corral
Noetic Technologies, Inc.
Marketing Specialist
c: 412-334-0117
christian.corral@noetictechnologies.com

 

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