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Abstract:
MTECH Ventures, an initiative of the A. James Clark School of Engineering, announces the
winners of the 2007 University of Maryland $50K Business Plan Competition.

University of Maryland Announces Winners of $50K Business Plan Competition

COLLEGE PARK, MD | Posted on April 30th, 2007

Winners were chosen among nine finalist teams in three categories
during an event on April 27. Each team gave investor presentations to a
team of distinguished judges. Every team won prize money.

Faculty and Graduate Student Division

-- Accelign, a biomedical company developing a hardware accelerator that
quickly fuses or "registers" medical images from multiple sources to
accurately create a single three-dimensional image, took first place,
winning $10,000. "The competition offered valuable mentorship and
advising for our business," said Accelign CEO Dr. William Plishker, a
research associate at the University of Maryland. "We plan to leverage
the competition to launch our product." Accelign team members also
include CTO Professor Raj Shekhar and electrical and computer
engineering graduate students Omkar Dandekar and Yashwanth Hemaraj.

-- Remedium Technologies Inc., a company developing nanotechnology-based
active wound care products, took second place, winning $8,000.

-- BioFactura Inc, a biopharmaceutical development company focused on
solving unmet medical and national security needs in the infectious
disease arena, tied for third place, winning $2,500.

-- SD Nanosciences, a spin-off of the University of Maryland with a
proprietary "Triad" technology that has applications in vaccines,
cancer diagnostics, and specialty research probes, tied for third
place, winning $2,500.

Young Alumni Division

-- Aid Networks, a seed stage medical device company developing small,
portable, wireless, wearable vital sign monitors, took first place,
winning $10,000. Aid Networks team members include a computer
engineering and Hinman CEOs alumna; David Crawford, a computer
engineering major and Hinman CEOs student; and Leo Selavo, a research
associate at the University of Virginia.

-- Geo-Haul LLC, a company developing Space-Tug, a robotic tow designed to
dispose of aging satellites, took second place, winning $8,000.

-- Erudition, a company developing online learning communities, took third
place, winning $2,000.

Undergraduate Division

-- IMPACT Education LLC, a company that develops low-cost educational kits
that university professors can use to teach MEMS fabrication outside of
expensive laboratory facilities, took first place, winning $5,000.
IMPACT's team, all undergraduate Gemstone students unless otherwise
noted, includes: Kristin Freese, English and government and politics
major; electrical engineering major Ryan Herrera; mechanical
engineering major Steven Hoffenson; criminology and criminal justice
alumna Kate Imp; marketing and logistics major Paul Kang; Hinman CEOs
and computer engineering major John Karvounis; finance and accounting
major Jamie Kim; Hinman CEOs, computer science and math major Wei-Liang
William Lai; Hinman CEOs, computer engineering and finance major Peter
Orlicki; economics major Fred Perrotta; mechanical engineering major
Jennifer Thompson; psychology major Joe Wakeman-Linn; information
systems and finance major Ben Worku; and electrical engineering major
Travis Young.

-- Medical Error Reduction through Information Technology (MERIT), a
company developing Meritrack, a low-cost, scalable, and flexible total
procedural healthcare systems solution that will reduce human error in
healthcare and support efficiency in clinical record keeping, took
second place, winning $2,000.

Finalists were selected from 18 semifinalists, and nearly 60 initial
entries.

Judges for the event were: Jonathan Aberman, Founder and Managing
Director, Amplifier Venture Partners; Henry Ahn, Program Manager,
Technology Funding Programs, Maryland Technology Development Corporation
(TEDCO); Warren Citrin, CEO, Gloto; Ray Dizon, Managing Director, Maryland
Venture Fund; Mark Kass, Member, Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and
Popeo; Karl Renner, Principal, Fish & Richardson P.C.

Sponsors for the competition included the Maryland Department of
Business and Economic Development, TEDCO, Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris,
Glovsky and Popeo, and Fish & Richardson P.C.

The competition, now in its seventh year, has historically awarded a
total of $385,000 in prizes to faculty, students and alumni with the best
plans for innovative ventures. Previous winners include Chesapeake Perl,
AnthroTronix, Squarespace, Affiliate Classroom, and RioRey (previously
known as Macrophage).

For a complete list of winners, and more photos, please visit the UM
$50K Business Plan Competition Web site, at http://www.bpc.umd.edu .

####

About MTECH Ventures
MTECH Ventures, an initiative of the Maryland Technology Enterprise
Institute in the A. James Clark School of Engineering, provides
cutting-edge entrepreneurship education to technology creators and
stimulates venture creation by delivering a portfolio of services and
resources to entrepreneurs committed to bridging the gap between technical
ideas and viable ventures.

For more information, please click here

Contacts:
MTECH Ventures
University of Maryland
1105 Technology Advancement Program Building
387 Technology Drive
College Park, MD 20742-3371
Scott Magids
Director of MTECH Ventures

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