From drones and transparent solar panels for sustainability to apps that reduce food waste or help you find a specific product faster, ϳԹ is once again well represented at CES, a sprawling international exhibition of the world’s latest technology presented this week (Jan. 7–10) in Las Vegas.
ϳԹ-driven innovation is on display at CES for the 12th straight year, showcasing 13 student, faculty and alumni startups from across a vast range of innovations. Owned and produced by the Consumer Technology Association, CES showcases companies from manufacturers, developers and suppliers of consumer technology to hardware, content, technology delivery systems and more.
“CES represents a truly unique opportunity for ϳԹ entrepreneurs to conduct customer discovery, benchmark technology and connect with potential investors within the span of one week,” said Mindy Baierl, senior director of the ϳԹ’s Veale Institute for Entrepreneurship, who managed the ϳԹ contingent this year. “Our booth provides a sense of community for ϳԹ entrepreneurs and valuable experiential learning for our students. Based on feedback from peer institutions attending the show, we’re leading the way.”
The student, faculty and alumni startups represent a vast cross-section of technologies, each geared toward addressing or advancing a particular challenge:
Student startups
- Lake Erie Drone, founded by nursing student Ethan Moore, is an AgTech business using drone technology to precisely deliver pesticides to small farms in Northeast Ohio. The goal: to improve farmers’ health by reducing the exposure to pesticides and the amount required to be profitable.
- SilverWrap, developed by finance major David Sarver, is an automated tool designed to wrap silverware for restaurants to reduce costs and free up servers to focus on their customers.
- aims to reduce the time and effort required to uphold cultural traditions, making it easier for people to integrate their heritage into their American experience. Materials science and engineering doctoral student Tumi Adeeko developed an innovative comb to safely and quickly unbraid hair.
- , founded by chemistry doctoral student Lexi Knight, provides an energy and land-optimized, semi-transparent solar cell that can be placed directly above crops tailoring light spectra to their specific growing needs. The technology would be sold to industrial and specialized farmers.
- , by Sorcea, was co-founded by accounting graduate student Jadon Wyant and data science student Dale Berkove to find skin-care products for consumers online, completely ad-free.
- ReCater, developed by economics major Genesis Richards, is focused on reducing food waste and food insecurity through an easy-to-use app. Richards also has another startup in “stealth mode” and leveraged CES for customer discovery.
Faculty startups
- EconXplore is an augmented reality program designed to help college students better understand and remember the fundamentals of economics. The application was designed by Jenny Hawkins, associate dean for undergraduate and integrated studies and associate professor of economics at Weatherhead School of Management, as part of her fellowship with the university’s Interactive Commons and Veale Institute for Entrepreneurship.
- , founded by , associate professor of physics in the College of Arts and Sciences and Veale Faculty Fellow, creates music effortlessly to elevate videos.
- Halo Harbor is working to develop a privacy-preserving, web-based application that provides users control over their personal data. The venture was co-founded by , assistant professor of computer and data sciences at the Case School of Engineering and Veale Faculty Fellow, and Youngjin Yoo, associate dean of research and professor of design and innovation at Weatherhead School of Management. Doctoral research assistant Yuqiao “Tina” Xu and accounting student Ithabeleng Makhetha showcased Halo Harbor at CES.
Alumni startups
- , founded by medical physiology alum Ezimma Onwuka, is dedicated to providing skincare solutions that merge culturally underrepresented botanical ingredients from Asia, India, Africa, and Hispanic regions with clinically effective ingredients from the West.
- , founded by School of Law alum Afif Ghannoum, is driving consumer packaged goods decisions by harnessing artificial intelligence and “big data.” Ghannoum also founded .
- provides optical disruption for military and law enforcement. The startup was launched by School of Law alum Atossa Alavi and is based in Northeast Ohio.
- is an aerial data collection company that specializes in environmental mapping. The company, founded by computer science and biology alum India Johnson, also provides photography and videography services and is committed to finding innovative solutions to environmental problems and promoting STEM among girls and underrepresented minorities.
For more information, contact Bill Lubinger at william.lubinger@case.edu.
