By Madeleine Stone @themadstone

Last fall, the Penn Center for Innovation launched the AppItUP Challenge, a contest that gathered mobile app ideas from across the University of Pennsylvania community and helped bring the best ones to life. The 2013 challenge yielded 185 ideas from 11 of Penn’s 12 schools. Of that pool, venture capital and development partners selected the top five ideas for free prototype development.

“We’re gathering the best ideas from across Penn and fast-tracking them into development,” said John Swartley, executive director of PCI. “AppItUP is emblematic of the opportunities that PCI is facilitating through comprehensive commercialization services for Penn faculty and students — efficiently translating innovative discoveries into the market for both social and economic impact.”

The AppItUP Challenge is now gearing up to launch its second year, with additional support from Ben Franklin Technology Partners. One of the nation’s most active early-stage investors in technology-based ventures, BFTP has provided both early-stage and established companies with funding, business and technical expertise and access to a network of resources. This year, BFTP will offer an investment of $50,000 to a finalist of its choice.

Open to all current Penn students, faculty and staff, the contest will begin accepting submissions on Sept.15.

“Unlike other app development contests,”said Karina Sotnik, AppItUP’s program director, “we’re drawing on the diverse spectrum of knowledge that can only be found at a place like Penn. We’re looking to unearth the hidden gems that exist outside the software and business development world.”

From Sept. 15 through Oct. 19, participants can confidentially submit ideas through AppItUP’s website. Ideas can be entered into one of four categories, three of them being commercial apps with broad appeal, specialized apps that serve a particular professional need or “noble mobile” apps that are aimed at doing social good.   

The fourth category is a new addition: a “Climate Change and Resiliency” track being sponsored by Penn Facilities and Real Estate Services and the Penn Institute for Urban Research. Apps entered in this category will solve problems related to energy efficiency, the creation of sustainable food networks, transportation, waste recycling and green infrastructure and will be eligible for a $5,000 prize.

Partner developers and venture capital firms will then spend a month combing through the submissions and selecting 10 semifinalists. While last year’s partner venture capital firms were locally based, this year’s include new partners from across the nation.

The semifinalists will attend a public forum in late November at which development partners bid for the opportunity to turn ideas into functional prototypes. The final selectees will then be paired with developers to start building their apps. In April 2015, the best prototypes will be selected to receive investment.

Last year’s contest produced several ideas that are now in advanced stages of development.

The grand prize winner of $15,000 was Rescufy, an app that simplifies and expedites the process of notifying first responders and emergency contacts and sharing medical information in the case of anaphylaxis. It is the brainchild of David Edwards, director of major gifts at Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine. Edwards and his wife, a nursing supervisor for Penn Care at Home, are parents of a young boy with a severe allergy to tree nuts. Through AppItUP, Edwards saw the opportunity to create a product that would help safeguard the life of his son and others.

Rescufy is currently available in beta for Android, and an Apple version of the app is underway.

“Rescufy really gets at the core of our mission here,” said Sotnik. “This idea was submitted by a staff member, someone who had a good idea and wanted more of a voice at the University. We were able to give him that voice.”