Smart Cities - Smart Futures by Foxconn Finalists Announced at Award Ceremony
Weeks of work and anticipation culminated on November 13th at the Smart Cities - Smart Futures by Foxconn Round One Award Ceremony, where 25 people from 10 schools learned that they were advancing to Round Two. Each finalist received $500 and the opportunity to further develop their concept, potentially winning as much as $7,500 in additional prize money.
The finalists can be justifiably proud of their work so far. They were selected from a wide variety of outstanding submissions from 20 different Wisconsin colleges and universities. The ceremony, held at Milwaukee Area Technical College in downtown Milwaukee, was attended by participating colleges, Foxconn executives, the media, and the judging panel. The vibe was energetic, with plenty of camaraderie and opportunities for networking. In addition to the program itself, attendees were treated to a fantastic dinner with lots of good food and drink.
The evening was sponsored by Foxconn and hosted by Milwaukee Area Technical College. Competition Partner SCORE also headlined the event and spoke about their organization. SCORE is a nonprofit association dedicated to entrepreneur education and the formation, growth and success of small businesses nationwide. They also talked about their involvement with the competition. Each of the finalists will have a SCORE mentor to help them develop their concept more fully as they prepare to submit it for final judging. Finalists will be expected to submit a Business Model Canvas, a 1000-word written explanation of their concepts, and a pitch video.
Here are the finalists from Round 1 who are moving onto Round 2 and will compete for even more prize money to launch their ideas.
From Carthage College
- Erin Magennis
- Perry Kivolowitz
From Carroll University
- Katherine Reim
- Jordan Wermund
From Lawrence University
- Harsimran Kalsi
From the Medical College of Wisconsin
- Bradley Gershkowitz
- Joseph A Bovi
- Gopika SenthilKumar
- Vasil Kukushliev
- Thomas Chelimsky
From Marquette University
- Wenkai Guan
- Kelly Krause
- Charitha Jayasri Gunawardana
From the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire
- Sicheng Mo
- Wufeng Tian
From the University of Wisconsin-Madison
- Tianen Chen
- Michael Schlicting
- Jayer Adrian Fernandes
From the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
- Mohammad Rizwen Ur Rahman
- Zihao Jin
From the University of Wisconsin-Parkside
- John Mielke
- Zaid Altahat
From the University of Wisconsin-Platteville
- Keegan C Imig
- Robert Oakley
- Samad Gharehdaghi
Competition submissions are independently evaluated by a panel of judges which includes academic, industry, government leaders, and external stakeholders. Concepts that made it into the finals were in the disciplines of industrial IoT, advanced manufacturing, high-performance computing, healthcare, agri-tech, artificial intelligence, machine learning, smart display technology, and other advanced technologies. Competitive submissions will be required to apply these technologies to solve real-world problems that will benefit and improve our communities here in Wisconsin.
Jack Nickeas of Smart Cities - Smart Futures by Foxconn says, "This has already been an exciting second year of competition. We’ve set the bar higher for submissions in Round One and have absolutely seen an increase in submission quality and overall competitiveness in this year’s competition. Contestants continue to wow us with their innovative solutions to complex problems in their communities, which to me, is the highlight of this competition. We’d like to Congratulate all contestants who submitted an idea in Round One and a special Congratulations to those who’ve advanced into the next round."
We can't wait to see what you come up with for Round Two.