Krannert MBA student Joshua Cox helps deliver the winning presentation for Glytrix, a company developing a tissue-healing technology that also reduces scarring, at the 23rd annual Burton D. Morgan Business Plan Competition in February. Glytrix captured the $30,000 top prize in the Gold Division, which is open to Purdue graduate students and others. (Photo by Richard Myers-Walls)
Since its debut 23 years ago with a winning proposal to establish daycare centers in shopping malls, Purdue’s annual Burton D. Morgan Business Plan Competition has rewarded students who look toward the future. Although the ideas proffered at this year’s event were much higher-tech than those in 1987, the issues they addressed were just as socially relevant.
"This event showcased some of Purdue’s most creative and innovative student-led business concepts, and we saw 10 examples of how bright the future looks through this next generation of entrepreneurs," says Krannert Dean Rick Cosier, who also serves as co-director of the Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship.
Glytrix, which has developed a platform technology for tissue healing and regeneration that also minimizes scarring, received $30,000 for its victory in the Gold Division. Krannert MBA student Joshua Cox and Purdue biomedical engineers John Paderi, Alyssa Panitch, and Kate Stuart led the team.
TerraSolutions LLC, led by brothers Jacob and Matthew Smoker of LaPorte, Indiana, won the $20,000 top prize in the Black Division for undergraduate students. The company is developing a biodegradable, cork-like material for flooring, insulation and other uses from the waste and byproducts of ethanol production.
BioRegeneration Technologies received the $15,000 second prize in the Gold Division. The company is working to commercialize a naturally derived biomaterial scaffold developed by Purdue researchers for tissue regeneration following an injury. Pinta, which is developing search and recommending software that makes academic and research information more accessible and useful, received $7,500 for finishing third.
In the Black Division, ROPES, or Rapid Orthopedic Pelvic Emergency Splint, finished second, claiming the $10,000 prize for a product that would help emergency responders stabilize a pelvic fracture faster and more effectively than other current methods. Receiving the $5,000 third-place prize was eXdeveloped, which is designing a product to view and analyze the eXtensible business reporting language.
New this year, a student on the top finishing team in each division is eligible for a $5,000 annual Krannert scholarship to its full-time MBA program. The student must apply within five years and meet admissions requirements. In addition, winners from each category are eligible for one seat in Krannert’s two-week Applied Management Principles program.
Event sponsors were the Krannert School, the Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreurship, and Ice Miller LLP, an Indianapolis-based law firm that provides scholarship funding for Purdue’s Certificate in Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program and in-kind services to the competition’s top finishers.
— Phillip Fiorini
For more information, visit www.purdue.edu/discoverypark/entrepreneurship.