Purdue names winners of Moonshot Pitch Challenge
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Ideas to raise awareness about substance abuse disorder, alleviate menopausal hot flashes and grow plants in small spaces were among the winners of the latest round of Purdue Innovates Incubator’s Moonshot Pitch Challenge.
The semiannual competition is open to all Purdue University students, and more than 60 teams participated in this go-round. Fifteen finalists had two minutes to pitch their solutions to judges.
“The Moonshot Pitch Challenge provides Purdue students a platform to address global challenges by ideating bold, audacious solutions,” Doug Applegate, Incubator associate director, said in a news release. “They are taking the next giant leaps to solve those challenges.”
First-place teams in each of three primary categories received $1,500. Teams that won the Best Pitch and Crowd Favorite awards received $500 each.
Earth category (focused on addressing socioeconomic needs and challenges): Boiler Substance Awareness Network for an augmented reality/virtual reality simulation that helps people better understand substance use disorder in an effort to reduce stigma and the barriers to recovery.
Team members are Alyssa Collins, Rachel Isaac and Claire Wolfer-Jenkins.
Isaac said the Moonshot Challenge provided welcome feedback from industry leaders and the team will use the $1,500 in prize money toward further research and planning to bring its idea to life.
Orbit category (focused on business-to-business solutions): echoSURE, whose goal is to replace X-rays as a means of feeding tube validation with an attachment for the tube that will save time and money while maintaining accuracy.
Team members are Raishma Anwar, Angelica Gonzalez Ng, Jojo Ramakrishna, Haley Self, Kate Stanton and Jax Whited.
Whited said the challenge provided feedback on how to improve their device and the $1,500 will help as the team moves toward finishing its prototype.
Moonshot category (focused on solving a seemingly impossible problem): PECO Band, a wearable device that pre-detects and alleviates menopausal hot flashes.
Rutvik Mehenge created PECO Band and said the challenge provided valuable insights and connections and the $1,500 in prize money will go toward creating a prototype.
Crowd Favorite: Innovating Roots, whose Floraframe is a wall-mounted plant holder with a detachable drainage system.
Team members are Tejasvi Bhagwatkar, Kayla Smith and Sindhu Vajrala.
Smith said the $500 in prize money will help get the idea off the ground.
Best Pitch: REMI, a campus bike-sharing platform with smart locks and an app that offers a reliable alternative to Veo and Uber.
Team members are Rishit Agrawal, Mihir Chauhan and Ethan Wang.
Agrawal said the team will use the $500 in prize money toward advancing from its 3D-printed smart lock prototype to an industrial, weatherproof one.
Judges for the Moonshot Pitch Challenge were Davide Dantonio of gener8tor, Larry Fultz of Cutting Edge Industrial Technologies and the Indiana Manufacturing Competitiveness Center, Collin Harbison of the Dearing Group, Nathan Hartman of the Purdue Polytechnic Institute, Joe Indiano of Apeiron Network and Amicio Group, and Lucas Woody of NextBetter.
“It’s inspiring to see how these initiatives enable Purdue students to capitalize on their strong engineering expertise to develop deep-tech solutions and, sometimes, even physical prototypes,” Dantonio said in the news release. “Moreover, the students’ business acumen stood out as they confidently detailed market-sizing, customer validation, monetization and funding pathways, bridging ambitious campus ideas to real-world applications.”