$50,000 prize winner to be announced on May 16th
The Cade Museum for Creativity + Invention announced it’s Sweet 16 finalists for the 6th Annual $50,000 Cade Museum Prize for Innovation. Named after the Dr. J. Robert Cade, who led the team that invented Gatorade in 1965, the Prize is an annual competition for early-stage inventors and entrepreneurs in Florida. The goals of the Prize are to provide seed capital and publicity for great ideas with market potential. This year, the top healthcare entry also will receive $10,000 in cash from the Vision Fund in Ocala.
The museum received 85 entries, and the first and second rounds of judging narrowed the entries down to 16. Four of the finalists are from Gainesville and the remaining 12 are from various other cities throughout Florida.
A reception for the Sweet 16 will be held on April 2 at the Florida Inventors Hall of Fame, located on the campus of the University of South Florida in Tampa.
The Final Four will be named on April 21 and they will make live presentations to a panel of judges on May 16. The winner will be announced that same evening at the “Inventivity Bash,” at Santa Fe College Fine Arts Hall in Gainesville.
Sweet 16 Finalists
Gainesville Based Finalists
aqUV Free- A reusable solar powered water bottle that purifies water.
In early 2014 aqUV won the first Gator Business Plan competition put on the by Warrington College of Business Administration’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.
NeXtGen Biologics
Axolotl Extra Cellular Matrix- Accelerates the healing and restoration of tissue and wounds.
Tyto Online- A video game created as a platform for learning.
Immersed Games received $50,617 from 309 backers through Kickstarter in August of 2014. The funding was for their Tyto Online online learning game.
ReSPECT- a device and software that minimizes complication rates and improves shoulder function in Osteoarthritic cases.
Finalists from other Florida Cities
X-Fingers- Active-function artificial finger assembly designed specifically for partial finger amputees.
Naples
A safe driving system to prevent cell phone distractions for commercial truckers.
Osprey
Custom design and manufacturing of high-performance interference optical filters.
Orlando
Smartphone based platform for early detection of pregnancy complications.
Tampa
Intellipigment- a color-changing pigment (chemochromic) technology for hydrogen leak detection for the aerospace, chemical, energy, and gas industries.
Orlando
MARVEL- miniature wirelessly networked in vivo devices for used in minimally invasive surgery.
St. Petersburg
A sleep mask that enables women at risk of preterm labor to forestall delivery.
St. Petersburg
A soft, energy absorbing roadway barrier.
Wellborn
Visual scope to monitor wound healing.
Miami
Pi-CO2 Aqueous Carbon Capture- Changing the economics of C02 capture.
Orlando
Genetic Sensor for Seafood Authenticity
Tampa
SurfPlasma
Plasma Energy Surface Sanitizer- Destroys viruses, bacteria, and fungi in indoor environments.
St. Augustine