As a part of the ongoing SPARK networking series, the Soiree and Bluegrass Showcase of Emerging Entrepreneurs and University Researchers will be held 5:30-7 p.m. May 25 at Copper Roux, 861 South Broadway in Lexington.
This comes in the wake of the recent Gatton FinTech Pitch event sponsored by the Von Allmen Center, where teams competed for more than $1,000 in prize money by showcasing ideas to develop new platforms to support and advance the financial banking services industry.
SmarTrade captured the $750 first prize with its Twitter sentiment gauge. Hello Banking, with its voice banking interface, finished second and took home $250, while Braille This, pitching a temporary braille device for ATMs, won the VACE Director’s Award and $100.
“Teams were judged on the commercial viability of their idea, product implementation, clarity of presentation, and team commitment to the project,” said Warren Nash, executive director of the Von Allmen Center, which is housed within UK’s Gatton College of Business and Economics.
As for the upcoming SPARK event, the director of the Lexington Office of the Kentucky Innovation Network Eric Hartman said, “This is a great opportunity for entrepreneurs to pitch their companies and for university researchers to pitch their research. We invite exhibitors and non-exhibitors alike to participate in this dynamic happening before a captive audience of entrepreneurially minded people.”
General admission tickets for the May 25 event are $35, which includes a drink ticket and hors d’oeuvres. The first 20 companies and 10 university researchers to register and be accepted will receive one free ticket to the event. Applications are due no later than 5 p.m. Monday, May 22. Space is limited.
Companies will be provided a small table space and UK researchers must bring their own easels and will have two minutes to pitch. The Lexington Office of the Kentucky Innovation Network is offering a $500 prize for best company display and the Von Allmen Center for Entrepreneurship will provide a $500 award for best university researcher display selected by an independent panel of judges. Research posters will be judged on their overall potential for commercialization.
• Companies click here to apply.
• University researchers click here to apply.
For all questions:
Companies – contact Eric Hartman, [email protected]
University researchers – contact Mariam Gorjian, [email protected]
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