Students’ inflatable idea wins contest, $20,000 start-up grant

Two University of Virginia engineering students who designed an inflatable life-preserving belt took home $20,000 in start-up capital Friday for winning UVa’s inaugural Entrepreneurship Cup.

Adam Malcom and Scott Kasen, both doctoral students in UVa’s School of Engineering and Applied Science, beat out five other teams to win the university-wide competition for the most innovative and feasible business idea.

“We’re trying to create a life jacket that people have no qualms about wearing,” Malcom told the contest’s panel of four judges, all of whom have long resumes filled with entrepreneurial experience.

Traditional life jackets, Malcom said, tend to be dorky-looking, lack maneuverability and feel uncomfortable. As a result, many people opt to forgone one while on a boat.

Studies have found that only 22 percent of boat occupants choose to wear a life jacket. According to the U.S. Coast Guard, the victims in nine out of 10 drownings were not wearing a personal flotation device.

The students’ life-preserving belt uses pressure-activated carbon dioxide cartridges to inflate a series of bladders once it is submerged under water. The belt, they said, is less cumbersome and would prove more popular with the boating public.

“If you can create a PFD that people are willing to wear, you will control the market,” Malcom said.

The duo’s life-preserving belt also took first place in a 2006 international design competition sponsored by the Boat U.S. Foundation for Boating Safety and the Personal Flotation Device Manufacturers Association.

Malcom and Kasen’s company, called Advanced Marine, plans to license their design to a manufacturer and then sell the life-preserving belts for an estimated $220 each. They anticipate that they will need $300,000 in seed money to get their company off the ground.

“We’re two engineers waiting in the wings and we’re ready to prototype,” Kasen said.

For winning UVa’s first Entrepreneurship Cup, the two students won the right for a bronze trophy — created by students and professors in the engineering school and the McIntire Department of Art’s sculpture program — to be displayed at the engineering school for the coming year.

The trophy, which was unveiled at Friday’s competition, features a base encircled with bas-relief sculptures of the Rotunda and other buildings on The Lawn. A bronze spiral extends upward from the base, with the Thomas Jefferson quote, “I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past,” engraved around the spiral. In the center of the spiral, a magnetic disc levitates. Malcom and Kasen’s names will be engraved upon the disc.

Philippe Sommer, director of entrepreneurship programs at the Darden Graduate School of Business Administration, came up with the idea to hold the Entrepreneurship Cup in an attempt to reward and encourage the cutting-edge ideas at UVa that hold the potential to become viable companies.

The contest was sponsored by UVa’s Office of the Vice President for Research, the Darden School and underwritten by Third Security LLC, a venture capital firm that specializes in biotechnology and life sciences.

Randal J. Kirk, chairman and CEO of the company, was appointed to UVa’s Board of Visitors over the summer.

Thomas Skalak, UVa’s vice president for research, called the event a “great success” and said the quality and presentation of all the teams’ ideas were top notch. Several Charlottesville-area investors, he noted, were in attendance.

“It looks like it’s something that’s going to be fantastic for the future of UVa and really the whole region,” he said.

Will Mauldin, a doctoral student in biomedical engineering, took second place in the competition. Mauldin’s company, Rheo Logic, aims to use ultrasound technology to take precise measurements of properties, such as viscosity, of liquids, solids and gels in the processed food industry. Such technology, he said, could be used to ensure quality control without touching the products.

“We know there is a need [in the industry],” he said. “The technology just isn’t there yet.”

Taking third place was an idea to create a system that enables drivers to find, reserve and pay for parking spaces at universities, in large cities and during major events. The company, called Cspot, would use auction-based pricing for parking spots and RFID technology to verify the identity of people parking in the paid spots.