NVC Endgame

Clothes from cannabis, micro-LED printing and streamlined job search and hiring are among the innovations making it down the last leg of the College of Engineering Technology Management Program’s (TMP) 2018-2019 New Venture Competition (NVC). The six student-created tech startups, winnowed from a field of twenty participants, won the recent New Venture Competition Fair and will now go on to compete at the NVC Finals May 29.

“I want to congratulate all of the teams that competed at the New Venture Fair, they represented Technology Management and the University well,“ said TMP Entrepreneurship Director Dave Adornetto.  “The six teams selected to move on should feel extremely proud for advancing in such a strong overall field.”  I look forward to a great finals event.”

Having completed TMP’s rigorous eight-month program in tech entrepreneurship, the participants will take the stage to test their mettle before a panel of judges. On the line? Both cash prizes and bragging rights. The finals will be held at 3 p.m. Wednesday, May 29 at the University Center’s Corwin Pavilion. The event is free and open to the public; attendees are encouraged to register here.

Several past NVC winners have gone on to establish companies out in the real world, thanks to the program and the guidance of mentors skilled in the art and science of tech startups. Among those successes are Inogen, Apeel Sciences, Appscale, MILO and EVmatch.

The final NVC competitors are:

• Allthenticate, which offers an easy-to-use mobile authentication technology to secure businesses’ physical and digital worlds, all managed in a cloud-based service

• EnterVIEW, a software driven platform whose goal is to simplify and improve the way candidates look for jobs, as well as the way companies hire them

• Guinea Gig, a mobile application and web service that consolidates research studies on university campuses into one centralized platform to simplify recruiting of study participants, facilitate payment processing and provide administrative control

• Microprint, a highly innovative printing process which will soon enable every device to be powered by micro-LEDs — the future of display technology

• Selva, an online marketplace that connects textile mills with apparel companies to facilitate the sale and usage of excess fabric (deadstock), most of which sits idle or is destroyed

• The Hurd Co., developers of a more sustainable pulp feedstock for man-made cellulosic textile production from cannabis waste, seek to help apparel companies reduce the environmental and social impacts of their supply chains

Technology Management at UC Santa Barbara offers driven, business-minded students real-world curriculum and professional skills development essential to their career success. Its programs emphasize methodologies that foster innovation and leadership in both existing enterprises and new business ventures.

TMP students work under the guidance of dedicated faculty, practicing professionals and experienced mentors, where they apply a multidisciplinary approach to experiential coursework and extracurricular opportunities.