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We’re midway through the judging at the DFJ Venture Challenge today…

Here you see a UC Davis team demonstrating light-dimming demand response to help reduce utility blackouts.

From numerous entrants to the business plan competition, 18 teams presented this morning, and now six finalists are presenting extended versions of their pitch, and fielding questions from the VC judging panel.

It was a very tough call… and we were trying to reduce to five finalists:

• UW has two finalists: Athleon and Impel Neuropharma (drug delivery via the upper nasal cavity to better cross the blood-brain barrier)

• Stanford: Cascade Clean Energy (Microbial Fuel Cell for waste water treatment and energy generation)

• UCLA: CityMedia (novel social meeting places for the Indian market)

• UCSD: NeuroVigil (simpler brainwave monitoring for sleep disorder diagnosis)

• UC Davis: Advanced Enological Closures (better screwcaps for wine!)

Good luck to all!

4 responses to “Enlightening”

  1. angry shock Avatar
    angry shock

    yeah, good luck to all.

    Jeez, I wonder what’s the variable for exclusion here… becuase I think that the only less strong one of them all if the indian market oriented (at least initially as presented) , as opposed to all other entries which has global implications. But guess the criteria goes far beyond this ordinary one i mention.

    Reply
  2. OriginalGunner Avatar
    OriginalGunner

    Steve,

    You should have an opinion on this. What is the best UC school for a biology degree? My son has an inclination towards this.

    Reply
  3. !MimosaMicheMichelle! Avatar
    !MimosaMicheMichelle!

    This kind of competition must be so exciting! Often, as much as we may have vision for future implications, it is only many years later that we recall with awe such moments of decision and are impressed with how much some innovative ideas have changed the world in big and small ways. Even a better screwcap for wine can affect so many people. Imagine how many wine bottles will be opened in the next several years world-wide! Have fun making decisions that will have important implications in certain ways!

    Reply
  4. jurvetson Avatar
    jurvetson

    Yes, thanks….

    And congrats to the winner, NeuroVigil

    @xGunner: I am not sure. UCLA and UC Berkeley got the vote of my wife (a hum bio major and doctor). UCSF and UC San Diego jump to mind based on the med school reputation, and UC Davis for med and vet school.

    Personally, I would value an interdisciplinary bioengineering program (as they have at Stanford and Duke). In the 2008 U.S. News & World Report ranking, Berkeley was the top UC school, followed by UC Davis.

    Bioengineering the fastest growing major at UC Berkeley, UT Austin, Stanford and Duke from conversations I have had with these schools (now 40% of new engineering majors at Duke). I pinged the deans at the schools I knew to see if my Churchill Club prediction a couple years ago about a rise in student interest in bioengineering was coming true.

    Reply

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