Celebrate innovation at UW-Green Bay pitch competition

Susan Gallagher-Lepak
For USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin
Gallagher-Lepak

 

A new vocabulary is becoming part of the conversations – and thinking -- in our region.  We’re increasingly using words like “accelerator” (a program that provides education for startups), “pitch competition” (event where entrepreneurs present their ideas) and angel investors (individuals who provide early funding for new entrepreneurial ventures).

A great example of how these words are being translated into action is Titletown Tech, a partnership between Microsoft and the Green Bay Packers that was announced in October. The partners plan to break ground soon on a two-story building that will house the TitletownTech Accelerator, Innovation Lab, and a venture capital fund that invests in companies with high growth potential.

Another example is Gener8tor, a Wisconsin-based startup accelerator, which has expanded its gBeta program to northeastern Wisconsin. The gBeta program is a free, competitive accelerator program for early-stage startups.

To feed these start-up opportunities, the region needs a pipeline of innovative thinkers and entrepreneurs. A good source: Our colleges and universities.

Computer science and engineering majors are an obvious supply pool. But entrepreneurial talent is bred in a variety of disciplines. A key ingredient is students who have experience with innovative thinking and idea development.

RELATED:Board of Regents approves UW-Green Bay engineering school

At the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay we’re developing that kind of talent with our Innovation in Aging Student Idea Competition.

The competition, in its second year, culminates in an event on Feb. 23, when students will pitch their ideas for making life better for older adults. Eleven teams will pitch their ideas, and judges will evaluate their innovations.

Each pitch lasts just eight minutes. But it represents weeks to months of work. The student teams are challenged to design a solution to an aging issue. Their solutions — innovations if you will — might take shape as a product, service, social approach, environmental redesign, or some other form that hasn’t yet occurred to us.

Last year, nine teams competed from a range of disciplines across campus including human biology, psychology, computer science, and health communications to name a few. Many teams had members from more than one discipline.  

You might be wondering why we chose to focus our competition on aging. The short answer is that it presents a novel challenge for most students who have limited familiarity with aging issues. More importantly, dramatic increases in longevity in the U.S. and other nations are creating a need for better solutions to aging challenges.

In fact, by 2030, more than half of Wisconsin’s population is projected to be over 65. To enable older adults to live healthy and productive lives, we need to think differently and more creatively about solutions for aging challenges. Our competition is not only training future entrepreneurs, it’s training our students how to apply innovation to some of our society’s most looming concerns.

“Northeast Wisconsin has all of the raw materials needed to build a high-growth startup ecosystem," Maggie Brickerman, director of gBeta, told a Milwaukee news outlet in November.

We invite you to help build that ecosystem by supporting our student pitch teams on Feb. 23. Who knows, they might inspire an entrepreneurial idea of your own.

The Innovation in Aging Student Idea Competition takes place from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Christies Theatre in the UW-Green Bay Union. There is no cost to attend.

Susan Gallagher-Lepak is dean of the College of Health, Education and Social Welfare at the Universtiy of Wisconsin-Green Bay.