News & Events

THE FINALISTS HAVE BEEN CHOSEN IN BEN FRANKLIN’S BIG IDEA CONTEST!

ERIE, PA – More than 3,100 people have visited Ben Franklin’s landing page since we announced our latest $200,000 BIG IDEA Contest! This year we targeted small manufacturers and entrepreneurs to encourage them to share their new, innovative product or process ideas, and the response was overwhelming.

“There’s a lot of entrepreneurial energy in this area”, said Stephen Brawley, Ben Franklin’s President and CEO. “We had so many great applications, it was difficult to choose just a few finalists. It takes guts to put your ideas out there to be judged by strangers, and we applaud all who did. Those who did not make it into the finals, should feel free to contact Ben Franklin’s Erie office at 814-898-6650 if they want to pursue their options.”

This year’s finalists are:

  • Wei-Shin Lai with Acoustic Sheep, LLC
  • Zak Stahlsmith with ApexDrop Influence Marketing
  • Duane Clement with Data Inventions
  • Todd Scalise with Mosaix
  • Mary Jo Light with Integrated Machine Company
  • Fred Zeyfang with Plastic Innovations and Technologies
  • Harb Nayar with TAT Technologies.

The finalists will now be busy preparing presentations which will be made to a panel of independent judges in mid-April, with the winner being announced in May 2015.