Dual Winners in VTK Tech Transfer Challenge

NanoSpin's team won for a cooling system.

The VT KnowledgeWorks Fifth Annual Entrepreneurship Challenge’s Tech Transfer Challenge had two winners this year: Keraesthetics and NanoSpin.  The winning teams will receive $100,000 worth of mentorship and business support services over a two-year period, including assistance in developing the overall business strategy as well as the presentations and plan documents needed for investor discussions and product launch.  
 

Maria Rahmany of Karaesthetics

Mark Van Dyke and Maria Rahmany of Keraesthetics, develop soft tissue bulking products using keratin   The company’s lead product, KeraFil, can be used for facial aesthetic applications such as facial line and wrinkle reduction, as well as a therapeutic treatment for vocal cord restoration and tissue reconstruction.
biomaterials.

NanoSpin is a cooling system for computers and electronic devices that uses a liquid dispersion of magnetic nanoparticles to dissipate waste heat. NanoSpin team members include Suvojit Ghosh, Ravi Kappiyoor, Souvik Pal, Chris Prohoda, Mehran Tehrani, and Ishwar K. Puri.

The Tech Transfer Challenge provides an opportunity for Virginia Tech faculty, staff, students and/or alumni proposing to establish a new venture in Blacksburg, a chance to accelerate their innovative technology transfer from the university to the private sector. Other teams that competed in the Tech Transfer Challenge were Laser Light Energy Applications in Wood Products Production, NanoMed, LLC, and VT Transportation Technologies.

Stephen Epstein, PureAir

The winning concept in the Student Business Concept Competition was PureAir: Emergency Asthma and COPD Inhalers.  Stephen Epstein won $10,000 in scholarships plus summer workspace at the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center. PureAir is designing the world’s smallest profile emergency inhaler, which can work within minutes and can be a lifesaving device to the over 28 million Americans with asthma. Campus Tech, the Card Isle, Combined Sand Metal Printing, NanoSpin, and ViGLi also competed for the grand prize.

The winning student team will also advance to the VT KnowledgeWorks Global Student Business Concept Challenge and compete for the $25,000 grand prize on August 22, 2013, at the Hotel Roanoke in Roanoke, Virginia. 

The Global Student Challenge is part of the VT KnowledgeWorks Global Partnership Week, which offers university students, faculty, and business professionals from all over the world a chance to collaborate, form partnerships and build their global networks.