Keith Block Entrepreneurship Competition
2020 Fall Winners
First Place: CatchUp
In this time of social isolation, more and more people thirst for real human connection and Catchup believes they can create deeper connections than existing platforms have allowed. We want to change the situation of people choosing whom to pair with by mainly looking at photos. We desire to pair people based on their true common interests, starting from food. Our application, CatchUp, means to help people not only find their significant others but also adapt into a new environment by finding the food mates. The application is designed to heavily rely on Machine Learning algorithms to find the similarities between the individuals, and users will have options to decide what to do after being paired. From there, beautiful stories begin...
Second Place: ConvoClips
We are ConvoClips, a website designed for high quality online communication. During this time of COVID, online communication is becoming more and more important in our lives. Yet, the current methods of communication are sorely lacking. Whether it’s the inconvenience of setting up more engaging modes of communication, or the lack of clarity and connection in discussions, there’s just something missing. By providing an online forum site that implements simple and intuitive video-clip making features, ConvoClips allows for more engaging and dynamic remote conversations with the click of a button.
Third Place: CAPSA
Our solution is a data-driven opioid addiction prevention system that combats the opioid crisis. We use an IoMT-connected device that provides data analytics to doctors and identifies signs of addiction in patients so that early intervention could be put in place. The bottle will be locked and will have the necessary safety mechanisms to prevent accidental and purposeful overdoses. Our device can also be utilized by drug rehab centers to provide nurses and patients with an efficient and private mode of monitoring that will strengthen recovery rates. Capsa is looking to provide a cost-effective and innovative product to end the opioid crisis that claims thousands of lives every year.
2020 Summer Winners
First Place: ML Code Security
Today, the estimated average cost of a single security breach is $3.86 million. By detecting the code signatures of malicious actors who have embedded malware on employees’ computers, ML Code Security’s AI-based software program introduces an additional security layer over sensitive data in order to validate a given employee’s identity without compromising the efficiency of the authentication process.
Second Place: Respiratory Medical Device
Out of the nearly 4 million babies born in the United States every year, approximately 300,000 are sent to the Neonatal ICU. Through the use of a nasal interface for facilitating Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP), this team aims to provide better health outcomes for babies in Neonatal ICUs and overcome existing issues inherent to conventional nasal CPAP interfaces, such as nasal septal erosion.
2019 Winners
First Place: TechFaced
TechFaced is a fraud prevention service that protects makeup consumers from falling victim to counterfeit makeup product scams. By providing a free app to confirm the authenticity of makeup products, consumers could be sure of the quality of their makeup, and legitimate makeup brands would be better equipped to shut down counterfeit producers and protect their brands.
Team Members: Sana Lakdawala (Dietrich) and Sabrina Romansky (Dietrich)
Second Place: Asymmetrics
Asymmetrics guides an individual’s process of choosing the optimal health care plan. To do so they proposed a decision support system that displays the plan that results in the lowest total expected cost for the person and explains the terms of the selected plan in a friendly and comprehensible manner.
Third Place: StudentSaver
StudentSaver is a budgeting app and decision support tool for individuals with student loan debt. The app uses machine learning and behavioral nudges to simplify the confusing decisions around student loans, to improve user communication with loan servicers, and to increase user interaction with their finances. The app offers live e-consultations with experts in student loan debt and will eventually also have a bot on the platform to answer simpler questions. The app will specifically be marketed towards employers, as employee wellness is a growing interest of many companies.
2018 Winners
First Place: SensorX
SensorX is a data collection and analytics venture that repurposes discarded smartphones and converts them into mobile data collection points. By repairing and installing these sustainably repurposed smartphones at data collection points, SensorX would enable governments, non-profit organizations, and researchers to track endangered species via live feeds, monitor areas of toxic waste and rising sea levels and gather other important data by leveraging the smartphones' on-device sensors.
Second Place: Team Polineq (WorkCert)
WorkCert is a blockchain-based certification software for training individuals in the manufacturing and construction fields. By providing both job training and employment opportunities, WorkCert aims to address the labor gap through the creation of a targeted marketplace to increase competition and benefit employees.
Third Place: Women Protectors
Women Protectors is a mobile app for connecting victims of domestic violence in Mexico with legal resources, medical assistance and psychological support. Through the use of machine learning techniques, Women Protectors would provide users with clear, personalized guidelines to make informed decisions based on their mobility, living situation and other vital factors.
Team Members: Natasha Gonzalez Deprez and Daniel Fernandex Davila