R.I. Business Plan Competition names 13 semi-finalists

THE RHODE ISLAND Business Plan Competition has named 13 semi-finalists in the 2015 competition from among 82 emerging and would-be entrepreneurs.
THE RHODE ISLAND Business Plan Competition has named 13 semi-finalists in the 2015 competition from among 82 emerging and would-be entrepreneurs.

PROVIDENCE – The Rhode Island Business Plan Competition has named 13 semi-finalists in the 2015 competition from among 82 emerging and would-be entrepreneurs.

The competition will name winners and award prizes valued at $200,000 to all finalists and winners on May 12 at The Garage, a half-day business development conference at the R.I. Convention Center put on by the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce.

Semi-finalists have proposed businesses that address problems in the biotech, consumer, environmental, health care, information technology, retail and software industries.

“We appreciate the strong effort made by everyone who applied to this year’s competition, and we strongly encourage those who were not chosen as semi-finalists to continue, because success is often a matter of persevering,” competition co-chairman Anthony Mangiarelli said.

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Semi-finalists in the entrepreneur track include the following:

  • CloudContacts – Developing a Web-based address book that self-updates as friends, family and colleagues change contact information. Principal applicant: Michel Mullen, Providence.
  • FetchPark – Building a transponder and companion app to help drivers find and autopay for parking in urban areas without looking for coins, touch a screen or swipe a credit card. Principal applicant: Tom Olson, Providence.
  • HMSolution – Provides pre-packaged water treatment equipment to remove arsenic and 15 other toxic chemicals at one-fifth the operating cost of competing solutions. Principal applicant: Margaret Lengerich, Providence.
  • Kippkitts – Developed a compact and portable system for providing therapeutic cooling that can be used in ambulances. Principal applicant: Kipp Bradford, Pawtucket.
  • Solution Nexus – Developed an automated approach to proton radiotherapy for cancer treatment that designs and fabricates custom beam-masking hardware faster and at lower cost relative to legacy systems. Principal applicant: Alan Schinazi, Pawtucket.
  • The Compost Plant – Creating a commercial compost system that diverts organic material from landfills, producing high-quality compost while providing customized organics collection. Principal applicant: Leo Pollock, Providence.
  • XactSense – Building a handheld, scanning device to create highly accurate 3-D maps of the built environment, which can replace traditional survey equipment. Principal applicant: Andy Trench, Warwick.

Semi-finalists in the student track include the following:

  • Bounty – Creating automated visual content-recognition software that links to an online advertising marketplace, connecting brands with visual content creators. Principal applicant: Noah Fradin, Brown University.
  • EquiTrue – An advanced stability assessment system that can detect and quantify specific balance and proprioceptive impairment caused by concussions. Principal applicant: Dan Giovacchini, Brown University.
  • NGS Imaging – Developing a scintillator that will increase image resolution and overall detector efficiency of X-ray equipment used to diagnosis and screen for disease indicators. Principal applicant: Linghan Xing, Brown University.
  • PICCPerfect – Developing an improved design of peripherally inserted central catheter line covers. Principal applicant: Emily Levy, Babson College.
  • T3 Technologies – Developed a GPS-powered device that will enable auto dealers to quickly find vehicles on their parking lots. Principal applicant: Alter Jackson, Brown University.
  • UnSync – Using unsynchronized structured lighting and multi-frequency phase shifting techniques to power 3-D scanners at significantly lower cost than is currently available. Principal applicant: Leo Liu, Brown University.

Finalists will be selected later this month. To win prizes, applicants agreed to establish or continue business operations in Rhode Island.

Supporting this year’s competition are 56 sponsors, including banks and investors; colleges and universities; foundations; construction, insurance, health-related, software, and other businesses; professional firms; services organizations; and a former participant.

Established in 2000, the Rhode Island Business Plan Competition has been recognized as one of the top 40 business plan competitions in the country. It has awarded more than $1.6 million in prizes to date.

Complete competition information, including rules, application procedures, guidelines and business plan resources, is available at www.ri-bizplan.com.

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