TMC PULSE

t m c » p u l s e | m a y 7, 2 0 1 4 32 T he 2014 Rice Business Plan Competition (RBPC), the world's richest and largest student startup competition, awarded nearly $2.9 million in cash and prizes, a record amount, at this year's competition held on April 10-12 at Rice University's Jones Graduate School of Business. Medical Adhesive Revolution of RWTH Aachen University, Germany, which developed a high-strength biodegradable surgical adhesive that can be used inside the human body to seal wounds within seconds, emerged as the top startup company, winning $507,500. This marks the first time an international team has won the competition and the first time two international teams finished in the top six. The teams competed in four cate- gories—energy, clean technology and sustainability; information technology, Web and digital media; life sciences, biotechnology and health care; and social-impact ventures—by presenting 15-minute investment pitches. They also competed in a rapid-fire 60-second elevator-pitch contest on the first night of the competition. "The RBPC has been instrumental in several ways," said Brad Burke, man- aging director of the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship at Rice University, which hosts the RBPC. "We've created an entrepreneurial eco- system around the Rice Alliance and around Houston. It's created a network and a culture that helps entrepreneurs be successful by providing a readily available base of investors, mentors and advisors." Since the RBPC's inception in 2001, more than 155 competitors have suc- cessfully launched their companies and are in business today or have had suc- cessful exits. These competing teams have raised more than $844 million in funding and have had successful exits of more than $250 million, for a total market value of more than $1 billion. "The Rice Business Proposal Competition was the first startup competition to evolve from an aca- demic exercise to a real world exercise," explained Burke. "In 2003, we made a conscious decision to tell the judges that they should pick the winners based on where they would invest their money as early stage technology investors. It changes the competition; it becomes about supporting these companies as viable startups." Members of the forty-two compet- ing teams, hailing from some of the world's top universities, came together to pitch their new technology busi- nesses to more than 270 venture capital and investor judges. "I've never seen such a large collec- tion of people where everyone that I meet is so focused on helping you suc- ceed. Even the other teams will suggest contacts that they might have, and the judges' comments and critiques were designed to propel our dream forward," said Jason Sandler, COO of Innoblative from Northwestern University, a medical technology company that came in fourth place and won $20,000 in funding for developing a disposable radiofrequency probe to destroy residual cancer left after the removal of a breast tumor. "The poten- tial of this competition, every year, is unbelievable on a global scale." One of Rice University's competing teams, NanoLinea, a Houston-based medical company focused on developing innovative nanotube fiber technologies for heart rhythm disease, is a result of collabora- tion between Rice University and the Texas Heart Institute. "Last January, we published a paper on the unique properties of this carbon nanotube fiber," said Colin Young, co-founder of NanoLinea. "Dr. Mehdi Razavi at the Texas Heart Institute real- ized that those properties represented a missing piece in treating heart rhythm diseases, and got in touch with us to start doing tests." "Every year, we have teams say that this is the best education in entrepre- neurship that they've ever received," said Burke. "Regardless of the length of their program, many of them come away saying that they learned more about starting a company in this weekend than throughout the rest of their program." Last June, the Rice Alliance was named the top global university business incubator of 2013, accord- ing to the first in-depth study by the University Business Incubator Index, based in Sweden. "Once you compete in the Rice Business Plan Competition, the mes- sage to you is that you're part of the RBPC family, and we adopt you. We reach out to all of the companies, every year," said Burke. "In recent years, we've really scaled up the competi- tion. We have touched 42 teams, and a number of them will be changed, in a transformative way, through their experience here." An Education in Entrepreneurship Nearly $2.9 Million Awarded in Rice Business Plan Competition LEFT: Brad Burke, managing director of the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship, addresses the crowd at the 60-second elevator-pitch contest on the first night of the compe- tition. MIDDLE: EcoBreeze of National Taiwan University, Taiwan, a company based on researching and commercializing innovative green cooling technology for customers in the ICT/LED field, stand tall; they finished in third place for $22,000. RIGHT: Medical Adhesive Revolution of RWTH Aachen University, German, relax after a long day. The team emerged as the top startup company, winning $507,500, marking the first time an international team has won the competition. (Credit: Slyworks Photography) since the rice business plan competition's inception in 2001, more than 155 competitors have successfully launched their companies and are in business today or have had successful exits. B y A l e x O r l a n d o

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