In the gilded auspices of the Wyoming Union ballroom, teams of finalists for the Fisher Innovation Launchpad sat in trepidation waiting for the winners of $125,000 to be announced by a panel fashioned with the iron intuition of some of the finest members of Wyoming’s academia and business class.
The Fisher Innovation Launchpad, named after the primary financer of the project Donne Fisher, pits innovators from across Wyoming against one another in the hopes of fostering a new, independent tech start up in the state. The event and participants are driven by the explicit promise that $125,000 would be awarded to the final winners to take their business past the concept phase and into the real world.
Originally deemed the “Fisher Innovation Challenge” at its birth, the organizers have opted to shift away from the definitional improprieties of the word “Challenge” and instead wield a word that would elevate the focus of the event away from the ground level conflict over seed funding to the future heights of economic potential.
“Reframing the program to the Launchpad helps these UW students understand that this isn’t a competition against others, but rather an ongoing program to help them find the support and resources they need to build innovative companies here in Laramie.” Fred Schmechel, the assistant director of the Wyoming Technology Business Center said.
As one may be able to discern, the focus of the Launchpad is entirely on the future; with proposals being centered on building a technology based outfit that will hopefully catalyze future investment in the state. Students are given free range to develop new inventions, or use old inventions in new ways as a part of their business plan. Nothing is off the table; mechanical inventions, processors, beneficial uses of chemicals, biomechanics, software, to Android and IOS.
Submissions this year ran the gambit. Spencer Sharpe, lead data scientist from UL LLC and a graduate student from Cheyenne majoring in electrical engineering, advocated for “Deep Belief.” An outfit of his own conception which intends to visualize data through semantic clustering, the organization of words, phrases and sentences — into clusters based on meaning, that would then enable customers to better understand analyzed datasets which are presented to them. For example phrases such as “How big can my bag be” or “are carry-ons allowed” would both become sub-headings in a group titled “Luggage.”
Marcus Brock, a postdoctoral research associate in botany went in ordance with his major opting for a more natural direction. He proposed “Brass Genes.” A company which would be based around targeting a trait of a commercially important oil-seed plant in such a way so that it would stimulate natural pollination. This would have the knock on effect of decreasing the need for bee hives whilst also increasing crop yields.
Along with Brock and Sharpe, eight other teams with eight other dreams of cross platform coordination, pholaytic organic destruction, and even the occasional chemical solution were deemed worthy of the unparalleled opportunity provided by being in the final ten.
The panel of judges who made the fateful final decision to cut down the list of competitors to the triumphant ten, included business leaders Teresa Nealon, Christine Langley, Mike Kmetz, Sarah Reese and Jerad Stack. All of who in the past have had huge and/or massive success as innovators.
“In the end, the primary goal of the Launchpad is to generate jobs in this state and keep our kids in Wyoming,” Schmechel said.
To that end, all of those who made it to the final rounds will be given support to pursue their ideas. Six of the ten teams will receive business counseling, one year of free rental space in the incubator and the opportunity to approach the Fisher Innovation Fund for startup capital. For those four teams that do not have access to the fund, they will still receive space, rent-free, in the incubator for a year, as well as professional business counseling.
For more information regarding this or next year’s competition please contact the Wyoming Technology Business Center at 307-766-6395 or e-mail them at WTBC@uwyo.edu.
