Rice Start-up Technology Companies Win Top Goradia Innovation Prizes
Winners Announced at Houston Technology Center Gulf Coast Innovation Conference
HOUSTON -- (October 5, 2010) – Three Rice University technology companies have been awarded the Goradia Innovation Prize established by Vijay and Dr. Maria Goradia and their family. The prize recognizes the best innovations from the leading Texas Gulf Coast universities and research institutions and encourages bringing those innovations to the marketplace. The benefits of the finest research only occur when breakthrough technologies and groundbreaking products reach customers and patients.
The $50,000 grand place winner was Rebellion Photonics, whose product is based on Rice University developed technology developed in the laboratory of Dr. Tomasz Tkaczyk, a faculty member in Bioengineering. Rebellion Photonics is an advanced optics company that has invented a revolutionary technology using hyper-spectral imaging that allows users to see the chemical composition of an object in real time while simultaneously taking a still photograph or video.
Rebellion Photonics also won second place at the 2010 Rice Business Plan Competition, where they took home more than $100,000 in investment funding and other prizes.
Nano3D Biosciences, Inc. took Second Prize for $10,000. The technology, based on Rice research seeks to create the industry leading standard for 3-dimensional cell culturing solutions. Nano3D Biosciences is a collaboration between Rice University and the UT MD Anderson Cancer Center and was developed by Dr. Tom Killian and Glauco Souza.
OrthoIntrinsics Inc. won Fifth Place and a cash prize of $2,000. OrthoIntrinsics is commercializing a breakthrough technology that delivers superior measurement of hand muscle strength and function that can improve diagnosis, treatment-decision making and rehabilitation for a range of upper-extremity and neuromuscular disorders. OrthoIntrinsics was founded by Steve Xu, formerly a Rice Bioengineering Student as part of the Senior Design Capstone Course led by Dr. Maria Oden. OrthoIntrinsics won fourth place at the 2010 Rice Business Plan Competition.
All three of these companies have licensed their technologies from the Rice Office of Technology Transfer.
Mr. Vijay and Dr. Marie Goradia announced the winners at the Gulf Coast Innovation Conference hosted by the Houston Technology Center last week. The Goradia Innovation Prize provides $100,000 in prize money in 2010 to help bring the technology to market. The prizes were distributed as follows:
- $50,000 Grand Innovation Award
- $25,000 First Prize
- $10,000 Second Prize
- $5,000 Third Prize
- Five $2,000 Honorable Mention Prizes
"The Rice Alliance is proud of the success of these three Rice start-up companies and the impact they are having in bringing these leading edge technologies to the market,” said Brad Burke, managing director of the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship at Rice University. “Commercializing the abundance of valuable technologies coming out of Rice research and building on Rice’s leadership role in university technology commercialization is a priority for the Rice Alliance. Over 40 start-up companies have been formed from licensing Rice University technology from the Rice Office of Technology Transfer in the past 10 years .”
The selection of awardees is based upon the commercial potential of the innovation, the soundness of the business plan, the potential for job growth within the region and the likelihood of significant long-term success. A structured and disciplined process is used by a prestigious panel of judges to evaluate the finalists and select the prize winners.
About The Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship The Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship (Rice Alliance) is Rice University’s nationally-recognized initiative devoted to the support of technology commercialization, entrepreneurship education, and the launch of technology companies. It was formed as a strategic alliance of three schools: the George R. Brown School of Engineering, the Wiess School of Natural Sciences and the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business.
Since inception, the Rice Alliance has assisted in the launch of more than 250 start-ups which have raised more than half a billion dollars in early-stage capital. More than 750 companies have presented at the 115+ programs hosted by the Rice Alliance.
The Rice Alliance also hosts the world’s richest and largest business plan competition, the Rice Business Plan Competition, where 42 top university teams from around the world compete for over $1 million. More than 95 past teams are in business today having raised in excess of $223 million in funding.
Recent recognition:
- 2010 & 2009 “Top 10” U.S. Graduate Entrepreneurship Program – Princeton Review and Entrepreneur magazine
- 2009 Outstanding Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership & Excellence in Specialty Entrepreneurship Education - GCEC
- 2009 Outstanding Specialty Entrepreneurship Program – USASBE
- 2009 Marketer of the Year – American Marketing Association
- 2008 Houston’s Greatest Economic Development Ally – Greater Houston Partnership
For more information about the Rice Alliance, visit www.alliance.rice.edu.
About Rice University Who Knew? <http://explore.rice.edu/explore/Who_Knew.asp>
Located in Houston, Rice University is consistently ranked one of America's best teaching and research universities. Known for its "unconventional wisdom," Rice is distinguished by its: size -- 3,102 undergraduates and 2,237 graduate students; selectivity -- 12 applicants for each place in the freshman class; resources -- an undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio of 5-to-1; sixth largest endowment per student among American private research universities; residential college system, which builds communities that are both close-knit and diverse; and collaborative culture, which crosses disciplines, integrates teaching and research, and intermingles undergraduate and graduate work.
Mary Lynn Fernau
Director of Marketing
Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship
Houston, Texas
(W) 713-348-5274
(C) 713-301-5494
mfernau@rice.edu
http://www.facebook.com/Rice-Alliance-for-Technology-Entrepreneurship