Notes from the 2011 MIT Whiteboard Challenge

Erica Peplin

Editor’s Note: The following are notes from the Whiteboard Challenge, held May 26, at the IBM Innovation Center, Chicago.

1. Ron Fleckman / Energy Recovery Technologies – Explained his “Energy Recovery Ventilation” device that would save energy and money by reusing rather than releasing the stale air in large buildings. Improves the efficiency of air-conditioning units.

Blake Wolfe

2. Urba Mandreka and Blake Wolfe / M.O.R.E. Life (Mobile Operating Room Engineering) – Wolfe drew their portable, less-expensive, and energy-efficient design for a new disaster-relief tent. Both Mandreka and Wolfe are students at the Illinois Institute of Technology.

3. Sarah Press / CommuniTeach – Press explained CommuniTeach as “Meetup dot com for learning.” Users make a profile and list the skills they want to learn and the skills they want to teach. Serves to help in both domestic and corporate environments.

4. Bryan Arturo / Fun Captcha – Arturo, the second-place winner, sold his idea of incorporating ad-space into captchas. Captchas are the box of skewing words seen when filling out forms that distinguish between machines and humans.

5. Michael R. Weinman / Green Zephyr Inc. – Put forth Green Zephyr railroad cars for fast and clean fruit transportation.

6. Thomas Capote / CVT Innovations Corporation – A type of fuel-saving engine for industrial application in trucks and heavy machinery.

Saya Hillman (center)

7. Saya Hillman / Fear Experiment – Narrated the unexpected success she found after combining the fears of average people, such as dancing or improvisation, with public performance.

8. Colin O’Donovan / Blood Vessel “BullsEye” Locater – the first-place winner.  O’Donovan does not appear to have a website.

9. Eduardo Sampedro / Energy Distribution Unit (EDU) – Addressed household electricity usage and shared his ideas for lessening domestic energy consumption.

10. John Brophy / I-GO Peer-to-Peer Car Sharing - Revised plans for the future of car sharing in order that they do no exclude car owners. The third-place winner.

Not even fifteen minutes after the last presentation, the winners were announced. The selection process was based not only on the opinions of the five distinguished judges but also the opinion of the audience, given the opportunity to cast a vote through text message.

The forum was a cutting-edge platform for entrepreneurial networking and innovative idea sharing.

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