Winners of the G. Steven Burrill Technology Business Plan Competition on April 15 were Anthony Escarcega and John Puccinelli. Escarcega is an MBA student, while Puccinelli is a graduate student in biomedical engineering. (15K JPG)

First prize of $10,000 in the UW-Madison G. Steven Burrill Technology Business Plan Competition April 15 was awarded to a company called Ratio, created by a team of business and engineering students. Anthony Escarcega (BSME '97, MSBME '99) is an MBA student in entrepreneurship; his partner John Puccinelli is a graduate student in biomedical engineering. The two wrote the winning business plan for an already-patented device that can deliver large-molecule drugs to patients.

Second place went to FireSite, a team whose business plan centered on a device for helping firefighters to escape from burning buildings. FireSite's team consisted of Brian Burke, a sophomore in finance, Chandler Nault, a senior in mechanical engineering, Mitch Nick, a sophomore in industrial engineering, and Nick O'Brien, who is majoring in chemical engineering, and theater. This team recently took first prize and $10,000 in the College of Engineering Schoofs Prize for Creativity.

James Lynnett, a master's student in business, and Dan Gerdman, who is studying for his MBA in entrepreneurship, took third place for Clean Well, a new idea incorporating a HEPA filter into well caps to keep out airborne pathogens. Microfend, a company devised by entrepreneurship students Alfredo Armengol and Paul Pucci and textile engineering graduate student Jay Deivasigamani, offers anti-bacterial custom treatment for fabrics for special markets including hotels and hospitals, took fourth place.

A business plan for FireSite, a device that helps firefighters find their way out of burning buildings, took second place in the competition. The plan's developers are (from left) Chandler Nault, Brian Burke, Nick O'Brien and Mitchell Nick. (17K JPG)

Fourteen teams from disciplines across campus presented their business plans during the competition. Concepts ranged from on-line grocery services to creating and selling the services of creative students for brain-storming sessions. The competition is supported by the University of Wisconsin-Madison Initiative for Studies in Technology Entrepreneurship (INSITE), the School of Business, the College of Engineering and the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. Major funding is provided by G. Steven Burrill, a 1966 graduate of the School of Business.

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Copyright 2005 The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System Date last modified: Monday, 18-Apr-2005 16:39:51 CDT Date created: 18-Apr-2005 Content By: perspective@engr.wisc.edu Thank you for visiting!