Over 40 student teams showcased products at the Fall 2023 I2P Showcase. The event was the final piece of the Idea-to-Prototype (I2P) course, a CREATE-X Make class where both undergraduate and graduate students have the opportunity to advance an invention idea toward a real product by performing basic research, analysis, building, and testing. Teams accepted into I2P receive a $500 reimbursement for physical expenses, course credit (undergraduate students only), and mentorship from a Georgia Tech faculty member.
The winners for this semester’s competition include:
1st Place: NueroChamp
2nd Place: QTACK
3rd Place: BloodSight.AI
Q&A With the Winning Teams
Team BloodSight.AI
A personalized AI medical application enhancing insight by providing analytics-driven reports for patients and physicians featuring medical insights such as vulnerabilities to diseases and lifestyle recommendations based on current blood work.
Founder: Adhira Choudhury, computer science, undergraduate student
How has CREATE-X helped you?
Working with CREATE-X, I had the privilege of being mentored by Melissa Heffner [co-director of Female Founders]. From my first Idea-to-Prototype experience as a freshman last fall, Melissa has been an invaluable guide. She has not only helped me brainstorm and refine my ideas but also supported me in understanding the intricate process of transforming a product concept into a viable startup.
What made you pursue entrepreneurship?
Since I was a kid, I’ve been interested in the intersection between business and computer science. To me, entrepreneurship is a gateway to the intersection by leveraging technology to solve people-centric issues. And at the end of the day, I want to know I've had a true impact on the world.
What was the best interaction you had at I2P?
I got to have a one-on-one with a physician at the showcase, which helped provide invaluable insights to BloodSight.AI. It was incredible to get end-user feedback on the spot.
What should students know about I2P or entrepreneurship?
Don’t give up. I did this exact program as a first-year student in the Fall 2022 Idea-to-Prototype program and learned firsthand the power of hands-on experience. Working live on a prototype doesn't just spark ideas; it reveals the precise steps needed to evolve them into a minimum viable product.
Entrepreneurship is within reach—just a leap of faith away. At Georgia Tech, you're never alone. There's always a community ready to support and guide you through the journey of idea creation.
QTACK
Developing intuitive and affordable analytics solutions for logistics companies, empowering them to compete effectively without the need for in-house data science expertise.
Founders: Pranav Devarinti, undergraduate student, computer science; William “Bryce” Pardo, undergraduate student, computer science
What made you all pursue entrepreneurship?
Devarinti: We both have extensive backgrounds in data science and a shared interest in entrepreneurship. My interest came from my mom, who has her own business.
How did you learn about CREATE-X?
Pardo: For me, it was Demo Day during freshman year. Looking at all the different companies there, I was so amazed. I started talking to founders, figuring out how they got started, and one recommended the Klaus Startup Challenge. In the spring, I participated and then took Startup Lab over the summer, which is where I met Pranav, my partner.
We’re so thankful for our mentor Greg Mihalik. He’s been such a huge help.
What was the best advice you received in I2P?
Pardo: How to negotiate a deal, or how to convert them from people you’re working with to people who are paying, and also how to discover that product market fit. The advice he gave us was to cast a wide net. He advised working with companies in different areas, and then narrowing in on where we could provide the most value.
What was your biggest take away?
Pardo: Go to a lot of these events, at least to I2P Showcase. You don’t know what can come of it.
What should students know about I2P or entrepreneurship?
Pardo: A lot of it has to be very self-driven. You need to be able to motivate yourself to do the work. You won’t have someone to tell you to do all these things. Some people will tell you what you should do, but you need to be the one to take the initiative and do it.
Devarinti: With a lot of things in life, you put in X amount of effort and get Y amount of return. However, especially with startup stuff, you can put in a ton of effort, and get nothing in return, and other times you work for half a day, and things work out. You have to keep going. It’s not fair, but it’s fun.
NueroChamp
A concealed and comfortable non-invasive EEG monitoring device for effective long-term pediatric seizure detection to improve the quality and health of children with epilepsy.
Founders: Caitlin Van Zyl, undergraduate, biomedical engineering; Jacqueline “Jacqui” Van Zyl, undergraduate student, mechanical engineering; and, Meg Weaver, undergraduate student biomedical engineering
What was the best interaction you had at I2P?
Caitlin Van Zyl: One of the first [people who] came up to us was a chemical researcher, and he was just looking at our project. He loved it. He was giving us a bunch of other applications where we could apply our device for epileptic seizures.
What made you all pursue entrepreneurship?
Caitlin Van Zyl: We joined Tech knowing that we would want to do entrepreneurship and CREATE-X was the biggest entrepreneurship program on campus. I’ve been loving all of this mentorship with other teams and getting to see all these cool projects. Professor [Craig] Forest has been an incredible mentor and energizer. Seeing his passion brought out this attitude of We Can Do It.
Jacqui Van Zyl: I’m a huge researcher, and over the years I’ve recognized the real way to have an impact is being able to translate research into practical prototypes.
Meg Weaver: Being a student at Tech and working on projects and completing internships, I’ve seen where there can be gaps in the medical device field. There’s so much research to be done, and so having the opportunity to be a part of that and moving it forward is exciting.
What was your biggest take away?
Jacqui Van Zyl: Being able to iteratively prototype and being OK with failing, being OK with people coming back and saying, "That’s flawed” — that’s been a good experience for learning.
Caitlin Van Zyl: We’ve been under the mentorship of doctors. It kind of blew my mind how excited they were about our technology and how willing they were to advance it.
What should students know about I2P or entrepreneurship?
Meg Weaver: Go for it! Do I2P, at least to start learning the process. It’s going to be a great experience to learn what goes all into this.
Jacqui Van Zyl: It’s more than OK to fail and have these sets backs. You don’t really have a robust product or a successful product until you have quite a few failures, and I think that’s something that people should embrace.
Caitlin Van Zyl: No idea is too small. Any idea, take it and go into I2P, and see how it goes. One semester can mean so much.
Applications for I2P are accepted each semester and are now open for Spring 2024.
This semester’s winners earned a golden ticket to directly advance to the semifinal round of the Inventure Prize, an innovation competition for undergraduate students. The top team also earned a spot in the 2024 GT Startup Launch program, a 12-week summer accelerator that takes startups from the idea to market stage.
Interested in building your own startup to solve real-world problems while you’re still in college? Apply for GT Startup Launch today an get the support you need to make a viable product. Applications close March 19,2024.
