News & Events

FINALISTS IN BEN FRANKLIN’S $50,000 BIG IDEA CONTEST ANNOUNCED!

Over the course of the summer, hundreds of people located in Ben Franklin’s 32-county footprint  in Pennsylvania, visited BIGIDEA.BenFranklin.org to check out the rules and the easy application process for our $50,000 innovation contest.  Recently, our team had the difficult job of choosing finalists from all the applications received from the region’s emerging tech-entrepreneurs and small manufacturers.

Ben Franklin Technology Partners is Pleased to Announce the Following Finalists Will Be Competing (Virtually) on October 14, 2021 beginning at 2:00 PM:

Swift Aeroseed LLC (Molly Cheatum, Jay Shettel, Bill Chain), located in Cumberland County, is an agricultural drone service company capable of carrying twice the amount of payload/seed.

Neonatal Loving Kare, Inc (Nicole Sawyers, Nicole Drayer, Dan McCluskey), located in Clearfield, patented a NICU positioning device for premature infants.

Consulting House USA LLC (Troy Bingham), located in Erie County, developed relocatable kiosks that will sell the LUMI “Better For You” food and beverage brand.

IL Fuels LLC (Paul Painter, Aron Lupinsky), located in Centre County, developed technology to recycle water from mining operations.

American Daedalus (Derek Smith, Jamie Hansen), located in Dauphin County, developed a system that remotely detects atmospheric turbulence.

MUSE ENGINE (Ben Legum, Dr. Jody Strausser, Jennifer Vondran), located in Clarion County, creates temporary molds to achieve highly customizable, small batch production runs.

Faubion (Andrew Wolgemuth, Brian Elliott), located in Lancaster County, created 3D printing technology and newly developed wax resins to produce replicas of unique ring designs.

BoB Profit Partners LLC (Craig Moyer, Raj Trivedi), located in York County, developed loss prevention technology that uses a sensor to detect when items are left behind in the shopping cart

In addition to the $50,000, on pitch day, audience members who will be attending via Zoom, will have the opportunity to vote for their favorite presentation in the $2,500 People’s Choice Award sponsored by Cargas.  Join us on Thursday, October 14, 2021, beginning at 2:00 pm, by registering here Eventbrite link

About Ben Franklin Technology Partners:  The largest seed investor in our region, Ben Franklin Technology Partners (an initiative of the PA Department of Community & Economic Development and funded by the Ben Franklin Technology Development Authority) has been providing investment capital, business support services, and operational assistance to emerging tech-startups and small manufacturers for nearly 40 years.  Visit cnp.benfranklin.org

 

For More Information, contact Annie Hughes, Director of Outreach, Ben Franklin’s Learning Center, alh6@psu.edu