ASU’s Edson Student Entrepreneur Initiative startup companies dominate this year’s Entrepreneur magazine’s “College Entrepreneur of the Year” shortlist, with three of five finalists being current or past Edson winners. The winner of the competition will receive $5,000 in prize money to help develop the business, which will be presented at a prize ceremony. The winner will be decided by public voting which has already started and continues until September. The winning team will be announced later in 2011 and featured in the January 2012 edition of the magazine.
The Edson Student Entrepreneur Initiative was established through a gift from J.Orin and Charlene Edson in 2004. As a student entrepreneur, Orin Edson started a boating company in his garage, which eventually became Bayliner Marin Corporation, the world’s largest manufacturer of pleasure and luxury boats. The initiate is designed to transform the way students are taught, while also providing an incentive and a means for students to pursue innovative ideas with real-life application.
The three finalists from ASU are:
- Boson Inc. believes stereoscopic 3-D media can enhance our abilities to interact, communicate, and develop physical abilities that will benefit our current and future generations. Using gesture-based technology, interactive simulations, and supporting a unique technology platform, our versatile solutions foster exceptional products and services.
- Ellens Technologies LLC is developing an iOS platform mobile application to assist veterinarians in the diagnosis of small animals by starting with a symptom and ruling out or eliminating possible causes while moving towards the root problem.
- G3Box focuses on converting steel shipping containers into medical grade clinics by outfitting them with the basic components of power, ventilation, potable water, and insulation to create sustainable medical clinics that address critical health needs internationally, while contributing every seventh container as a maternity clinic to help decrease the maternal death rate throughout developing countries.
“The Edson Student Entrepreneur Initiative is a wonderful example of what results when passion transforms to commitment, and commitment becomes an investment in students, who are ultimately responsible for solving the great challenges of our time,” said Johnnie Ray, president and CEO of the ASU Foundation for A New American University. “The confidence placed in ASU, its faculty and students by the Edsons harnesses the entrepreneurial energy, excitement and creativity found in this university’s student body.”
Today, the Edson Initiative at ASU helps students succeed in any enterprise, large or small, for-profit or not-for-profit, domestic or global.
To view the five entrepreneurial finalists and cast your vote, click here.