The Skandalaris Center is excited to announce six finalists for the 2022 Global Impact Award. The Global Impact Award was founded in 2013 to support the vision and passion of Washington University in St. Louis students, postdoctoral researchers, and recent alumni who are creating ventures that are scalable, sustainable, and quick-to-market with proof of concept and a broad impact. Up to $50,000 is available to the finalist teams thanks to a generous donation from Suren Dutia and Jas Grewal.
According to Cyril Loum, “This is the strongest batch of teams we have ever had as finalists. It was a tough decision because there were so many ventures that were solving urgent issues and having great market traction.” The following teams will compete as finalists in April:
Applied Bioplastics, Colin Ardern (BSBA ’12) Applied Bioplastics’ unique technology permanently bonds natural fiber and polymer to produce durable plastic for manufacturers. By converting hydrophilic natural fiber to a state of hydrophobia, Applied Bioplastics bonds sustainable cellulose with other polymers. This improves the functional qualities of traditional plastic and reduces the carbon footprint while retaining its ability to be used in standard manufacturing processes.
Cedars Health, Raphael Chung (BS ’19, MS ’20) Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is prostate enlargement that blocks the urethra, causes urinary problems and reduces the quality of life for more than half of men over 50. Cedars Health is developing a minimally invasive surgical device to provide rapid and permanent relief without complications for patients with BPH symptoms. The surgical device will offer an alternative to not only patients who need surgery but also those dissatisfied with medications. It will be more cost-effective than taking medications for years and will not cause complications that are common after BPH surgeries. A short procedure can be performed in the office setting under local anesthesia, offering a fast recovery time for patients and a high patient throughput for the hospitals.
HIVE Medical, Joe Beggs (BME ’20) HIVE Medical is making a new smart IV device, which wirelessly, objectively, and continuously records medication adherence data specifically for IV medication. This data has never been collected before, and HIVE will also be the first to use predictive analytics to gain patient insights with it. Other solutions for non-adherence in our market require the patient to do something. Patients have to respond to a text, open an app, or wear a patch. The beauty of this method is that it doesn’t require patients to do anything differently which is especially important for tackling the problem of non-adherence.
Honeymoon Chocolates, Cam Loyet (MBA ’21) The truth of chocolate is harsh, scary, and truthfully, scarce when it comes to cacao- the main ingredient in chocolate. The global chocolate industry is valued at $11B USD, but the average price paid to cacao farmers is about $2 USD per day. This disparity is a direct reason why farmers are switching to more profitable crops such as palm oil. Enter Honeymoon Chocolates- Saint Louis’ first bean-to-bar chocolate makers. Honeymoon specializes in bean-to-bar craft chocolate sweetened solely with raw honey. They are chocolate makers in solidarity with their cacao farmers through pledging to pay a premium for all cacao purchased. Many cacao farmers are not afforded internet, electricity, or even running water before craft chocolate companies such as Honeymoon offer them a chance for a better living wage. These hard-working families are their purpose- keeping the tradition of growing cacao alive.
Patika, Gulcan Yayla (MBA, MSW ’17) Patika is building the largest cohort-based hiring platform for tech talent. They train new talent on their education platform completely free, and companies pay to have their own cohort and access the human capital that they direly need. Patika was launched in March 2021. In only 9 months, they worked with 50+ clients, including eBay, Google, and DeliveryHero, to train more than 2,000 new talent in cohorts specifically designed for these companies. With a vision to connect people’s education straight to jobs, they have more than 45,000 programmers on their free and online education platform.
Qilo, Dave Brost (MS ’12) Qilo is an energy solutions company that empowers residential electricity consumers to make informed decisions to save on electric bills and helps utilities determine the most cost-effective efficient methods to deploy energy-efficient solutions. They are based in Chicago and their services start with consumers on Hourly Pricing in northern Illinois. Qilo is harnessing machine learning to personalize and gamify electricity data to show how to simultaneously save money, create a more efficient grid, and promote equity through a fairer distribution of costs.
Check out the video below to see the team’s reactions as they learn of their opportunity to compete in the finals.
These ventures will compete for the award at our GIA Finals on April 14th in front of a panel of judges.
Winners will be announced at the Washington University Innovation & Entrepreneurship Awards, presented by the Skandalaris Center, on April 14, 2022. We invite you to join us!