Last week, the Great Room of the University of Nevada, Reno Joe Crowley Student Union was filled with students, faculty members, mentors and members of the business community, many of whom seemed a bit on edge. They were all waiting to hear which student entrepreneurial teams had been selected as this year’s finalists in the University of Nevada, Reno’s Sontag Entrepreneurship Competition, which awards a grand prize of $50,000 to help the students bring their business ideas to fruition in the real world.
- ElectroVentures, Inc. (EVI) specializes in products for the $4 billion electronic dance music industry. EVI currently operates an e-commerce site that sells clothing and accessories for music festivals, concerts and raves. The company plans on being the number one company in the electronic dance music market by having the freshest product offerings and multiple revenue streams, including an e-commerce site, scaled vending operations selling products at events across the nation, and a complete media department to create original content.
- Envirohaven manufacturers a self-sustaining, efficiently designed permanent home, easily assembled anywhere. The simple structural design solves extremely complex problems for people who are required or desire to live without access to public utilities.
- EscaZyme Biochemicals is a specialized chemical company that manufactures component chemicals for use in the insect-control industry. EscaZyme produces through a new process discovered by researchers at the University of Nevada, Reno’s Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Because of this new process, the chemicals are produced faster, cheaper and with higher purity than processes currently in use.
- The Mental Health Hub’s objective is to build a website that will allow access to evidence-based mental health information that directs the public toward electronic health treatment information, provides a directory and rating of therapists, and also supplies an electronic heath record for providers. Mental health care plays a large role in the promotion of an efficient health care system and has been trailing behind primary care in promoting quality care. Currently, an internet-based electronic resource that provides the tools necessary to promote quality mental health care to both the public and provider does not exist.
- TERRANAMIC is a cutting-edge mining consulting start-up equipped with innovative tools to improve overall mine employee safety and health while reducing operating costs. Ten years of development and millions of dollars of investments in the advanced Integrated Parameter Computational Fluid Dynamics (IPCFD) modeling algorithm has allowed the company to view transient simulations of airflow systems and contaminant dissipation of turbulent flow in any confined environment with great accuracy. The technology improves efficiency by up to 35 percent measured in cost reduction while increasing overall employee safety.