PHILADELPHIA -- A field of 56 has been winnowed to 11 as  University of Pennsylvania students compete in PennVention, a contest for teams of Penn students to develop, patent and commericialize their inventions.  The inventions range from high tech gadgets to fashionable consumer products, from potentially life-saving devices to an improved medical implant, with teams representing Penn School of Arts and Science, School of Engineering and Applied Science, Law School, School of Nursing  and Wharton School.

It all culminates at the Invention Fair April 8 in a daylong competition where teams will demonstrate their technical savvy and business acumen to judges.  The Weiss Tech House, a Penn gathering place that supports students in encouraging and developing new technologies, is sponsoring the event and has offered mentoring opportunities for the contestants.  The grand prize winner will receive $5,000, with $2,500 and $1,000 awards going to second place and third place winners.

Corporate prizes include:

Leonardo DaVinci Prize: $5,000 and an offer of representation valued at $50,000, plus the potential to earn significant royalties from licenses obtained by Competitive Technologies Inc.  

QVC Consumer Innovation Prize: $2,500 and a one-hour meeting with the QVC buyer for that product category.

Bresslergroup Product Design Prize: each finalists will receive personalized mentoring from Bresslergroup Inc..

Lowenstein Sandler PC. has offered intellectual property advice and company formation assistance to all student teams.

"This competition began as a fun way to  harness the creative drive of our students and help them develop the tools, resources and experience necessary to take a good idea and make it into a commercial product," said Karl Ulrich, faculty director of the Weiss Tech House.  "We were  astounded, however, at the quality of all of the submissions, which made a very difficult task of selecting those teams that would go into the final round."

The teams making the cut into the finals, include:

Alternative Wallets

Provides athletes with secure, convenient storage device for valuables.

AromaChip

A MEMS-based, dime-sized marketing device designed to attract consumers to products at point-of-purchase by the controlled release of scents.

BrightIdea

Bulbs that switch on and off gradually to accommodate the natural dilation of the human eye.

Intellistem

An orthopedic, prosthetic implant for total hip arthroplasty that extends the lifetime of the implant by 50-100% (an additional 10-20 years), eliminates post-operative hip pain and increases long-term implant stability.

LiveBolt

A portable electronic theft deterrent system.

HRI Minesweeper

A machine that will clear landmines at a dramatically lower cost.

Philoi

A trust-based, person-to-person online bookmark sharing community (www.philoi.com).

SprayIt

A zero touch disinfectant that will enhance comfort and hygiene.

StormWatch

Portable, personal thunderstorm detection device.

Sunsak

A beach towel with features to make time in the sun more comfortable and safe.  

The wEdge

Makes shoe cleaning, polishing and preservation quicker, cleaner and easier.

More details on PennVention are available at the Weiss Tech House Web site: www.tech-house.upenn.edu.