Ten innovative Ideas to “Change the World” earn students recognition and cash awards in Fall 2010 competition.

Office of E*ntrepreneurship’s Change the World Challenge highlights student creativity and draws technology, social and business ideas from across the campus.

A collapsible, reusable water bottle, live bee insulation, unique walking and stair–climbing aids for the elderly, high-efficiency wind energy and medical prosthetics are among the winning ideas in the fall 2010 Change the World Challenge at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Created to support entrepreneurship education and stimulate ideas to improve the human condition, the twice–yearly competition shares a $10,000 cash prize pool that is shared by the winning students and student teams who develop innovative ideas and inventions with the potential to make the world a better place. Additionally, patent application assistance is given to winning student proposals.

“The ultimate goal of the competition is to encourage students to further develop, patent and fully realize their winning ideas – to evolve their ideas into life–changing inventions and technologies.” Chernow said. Many winners have taken full advantage of the program’s support and several have gone on to win substantial funding in national and international competitions.

Each semester, students select a topic from a range of challenges with the potential to improve human life and they offer an innovative and sustainable solution to that challenge. Examples of challenges include improving safety and security and addressing energy, water or health issues.

In the fall 2010 semester, more than 100 undergraduate and graduate students from Rensselaer’s schools campus–wide submitted 55 proposals to the contest. Thirty students – representing 10 entries – were named winners of the competition and will receive funding to pursue their ideas further.

In early June, an additional $5,000 grand prize will awarded to the team entry considered to be the “best of the best” from all of the winning entries from the Fall 2010 and Spring 2011 competitions, according to Rob Chernow, vice provost for entrepreneurship at Rensselaer and chair of the competition.

The winning ideas for the fall 2010 competition cover a range of innovative devices and technologies. “As always, the judges were challenged and very impressed with the high quality of all of the entries. There were many interesting ideas with potential for success and those selected for prizes were typically more developed and provided well–articulated and visually interesting descriptions,” said Chernow.

• H2Go Water Bottle – a collapsible, reusable water bottle inspired by origami design with significant market potential to provide millions of users with greenback savings and a bigger green footprint. Jason King ’13.
• L.I.M.B Intelligent Prosthetic Hand – a considerably lower–cost, functional, medical bionic made from off–the–shelf parts to enable below–the–elbow amputees to grasp objects of multiple sizes, shapes and weights. Christopher Wending ’11, Lesley Wu ’11, James Thompson ’11, R. Barrett Rehr ’12, Javad Rafiee ’11.
• WindMEC Energy System – a wind mechanics hybrid system combining the mechanical input from a wind turbine with the mechanical input from a non-renewable source to greatly reduce electricity dependence for commercial and institutional refrigeration and HVAC systems. Andrew Cunningham ’10, Charlie Driscoll ’10, Sam Notaro ’10, Steve Polansky ’11.
• Stair Assist – an economical stair climbing track system design with a built–in heart rate monitor and body balance alarm to prevent falls while giving elderly people the ability to ascend or descend a staircase under their own power. Cory Goodenough ’13, Drew Korte ’13.
• OntheGo Scooter – a battery–powered, lightweight, foldable and portable design, it helps urban commuters to enhance mobility and saving energy, while reducing pollution and traffic congestion. Xu Sun ’13.
• Bee Warm Insulation – uses the walls of a barn, lined with traditional beeswax frames, as an insulating habitat populated by honey bees. The system’s layers of frames eliminate use of harmful materials, provides bees for crop pollination and uses a sustainable approach to energy management. Dayna Polstein ’12, Timothy Jacobsen ’13, Bryan McMahon ’13, Meredith Mayes ’13, John V. Miller ’13, Lucas Graffum ’12.
• Pressure Ulcer Sensing Mats – a combination of pressure, temperature and blood flow sensing mats to alert care–givers of the need to reposition immobile, bed–ridden patients to help prevent 60,000 annual deaths due to pressure ulcer complications. John Kennedy ’11.
• PRESERV Refrigerator Storage Unit – a hollow–walled system for storing refrigerated medical supplies and extending the cooled storage life during prolonged power outages in rural and underdeveloped power grids. Kevin Young ’12, Andrew Emerson ’11, Catie Gould ’11.
• Grounded Feet Shoe System – shoes for the elderly that aid in maintaining balance to prevent falling. Simple, existing technologies for vibrating insoles stimulate nerves and stabilizing design features help the wearer in safely interacting with their environment. Lindsey Rappleyea ’13.
• FreeForm Paper Recycling – a shredding, forming and bonding system that reprocesses household, office and classroom paper to outputs in strong, complex shapes (e.g. bricks, flowerpots, toys, etc.) Hanhan Wang ’13, James Davis ’12, Nathan Pankowsky ’13, Cory Goodenough ’13, Adrienne Wilson ’13, Jarrett Kunze ’13, Joseph Xu Sun.

The Change the World Challenge was created by 2005 by Rensselaer alumnus and entrepreneur Sean O’Sullivan ’85. O’Sullivan earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Rensselaer and was a found and the first president of software firm MapInfo Corp. He has started a number of other companies and organizations, including JumpStart International, an engineering and humanitarian organization.