University of Arkansas Team Wins Technology Track in Carnegie Mellon Business Plan Competition

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InterVision Team, from left to right, Annelie Reckling, Liz Slape, Jeff Veltkamp, Bryon Western, Anoop Prasanna

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – A team of graduate students from the University of Arkansas has taken the grand technology award in the McGinnis Venture Competition, hosted by the Donald H. Jones Center for Entrepreneurship, Tepper College of Business, Carnegie Mellon University.

The event was held March 11-13 in Pittsburg, Pa.

The team included five students: Elizabeth Slape, Jeff Veltkamp, Annelie Recking and Anoop Prasanna, all in the Master of Business Administration program at the Sam M. Walton College of Business; and Bryon Western, a master’s student in the Graduate School’s microelectronics-photonics program. They won a $20,000 investment in their proposed company, InnerVision, and $20,000 in legal fees. Carol Reeves, associate professor of management, was mentor for the team.

InnerVision’s trademarked product, Smart Turbine Blade, enables power-generation facilities to radically change their maintenance programs and save billions of dollars each year on interval-based maintenance. The technology captures real-time diagnostic information from the inside of the turbine and transmits data wirelessly to the outside.

Slape said, “Words cannot describe the pride we feel in representing the University (of Arkansas). Other teams in the technology track included Duke University, UCLA, University of Texas-Austin and Cornell University. Many people did not know what to expect from Arkansas.  We are filled with joy that we were able to enhance the reputation Arkansas is getting from winning at these business plan competitions.”

Veltkamp said, “This was a first for everyone on the team; the first time any of us had ever participated in a business plan competition. It was more intense than I had expected. To be picked out of that exclusive group was truly as testament to our preparation from ... the dozens of professionals that helped us take our earliest steps, and especially from Dr. Reeves.”

Slape said, “We had an army of people behind us including previous students, current students, advisers and business people from the community. The support we received allowed us to succeed. The win was for the University of Arkansas and the state.”

The Arkansas Capital Corp. and the Walton College Graduate School of Business provided additional funding to support the team’s expenses.

This winter, Reeves, who also holds the Cecil and Gwendolyn Cupp Applied Professorship in Entrepreneurship, mentored another team, BiologicsMD, which won first place and $15,000 in the Cardinal Challenge at the University of Louisville on Feb. 20 and, a week later, first place and $10,000 at the University of Cincinnati Spirit of Enterprise MBA business plan competition.

Reeves said, “One of the greatest things about my job is watching how the students interact with each other. The other teams (who are participating and have participated in other business plan competitions) kept writing me for updates on InnerVision, and they immediately sent congratulations when they heard InnerVision had won. The same thing happened for Biologics MD. Students from the past three years came to critique both this team and Biologics. I think that is what sets us apart from other schools. The sense of camaraderie among these students is so strong, and they are sincerely happy for the other teams’ successes. It’s a great feeling, and a great tribute to those who establish the culture for the (entrepreneurship) program.”