- University News Archive - ��Vlog��ý Little Rock

��Vlog��ý Little Rock team wins $10,000 in Arkansas Governor’s Cup

John Hill — Wed, 15 Apr 2020 15:59:03 +0000

A University of Arkansas at Little Rock team won $10,000 and third place in the Walton Family Foundation Graduate Division of the Arkansas Governor’s Cup for their business plan pitch for a technology that creates Avatar-based chatbots. The awards were announced during a virtual awards ceremony on April 9. Team Face-to-Face consists of Joseph Kready, a senior computer science major from North Little Rock, and Thomas Marcoux, a doctoral student in computer and information science from France. Both team members are researchers at the Collaboratorium for Social Media and Online Behavioral Studies (COSMOS), a research group run by Dr. Nitin Agarwal, Jerry L. Maulden-Entergy endowed chair and distinguished professor of information science at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock. “We feel honored by this award,” Marcoux said. “We have put a lot of time and effort in the business plan and are very excited to see our work pay off and receive some validation for our ideas.” Face-To-Face is an innovative technology that creates Avatar-based chatbots that replace existing text-based chat bot solutions. The technology was developed based on research by Dr. Mariofanna Milanova, a professor of computer science. “The idea stemmed from Dr. Milanova’s research on measuring mood through text and tonality,” Marcoux said. “While we were exploring different markets for the competition, we realized the potential to apply that research to improve chatbots and give them some emotional intelligence.” What makes Face-to-Face unique is that similar products aren’t taking advantage of audio-visual technology to improve chatbots. “With avatars, we can display emotion during the conversation at a level that’s never been done before,” Kready said. Team mentor and coach Martial Trigeaud, an adjunct business professor at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock, said he was very happy with the team’s performance and noted that Face-to-Face is the first ��Vlog��ý Little Rock team to place in the Graduate Division of the Arkansas Governor’s Cup since 2009. “The business plan they presented was really good,” Trigeaud said. “We’ve worked since August on different points of the business model. I am very pleased with all the hard work from the students.” Now that the Arkansas Governor’s Cup is over, Marcoux and Kready plan to conduct more research and improve their product before seeking additional entrepreneurial funding opportunities. “While developing the idea, we discovered quite a few hurdles to overcome,” Marcoux said. “The development of dynamic avatars is a new space and requires much research and development. Given current events, we plan on building test implementations of avatar-based chatbots and improving the technology stack in this area before seeking further funding.”

Three ��Vlog��ý Little Rock teams competing in Arkansas Governor’s Cup finals

John Hill — Tue, 07 Apr 2020 17:15:11 +0000

Three teams of entrepreneurial-minded students from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock are competing in the finals of the Arkansas Governor’s Cup business plan competition and a top prize of $25,000. Winners will be announced Thursday, April 9, during a virtual awards program launching at noon. Members of CloudCare, who are competing in the undergraduate division, include Claire Herman, Philip Plouch, and Justin Priest. Designed to bring parents peace of mind, CloudCare is a smart baby monitoring app that works alongside the parent by generating real-time push notifications based on a baby’s movements and breathing patterns. The Face-to-Face team consists of Joseph Kready and Thomas Marcoux, who are competing in the graduate and innovation divisions. Face-To-Face is an innovative technology that creates Avatar-based chatbots that replace existing text-based chat bot solutions. “With avatars, we can display emotion during the conversation at a level that’s never been done before,” Kready said. The third team, SYMPER, includes Cole Evans, Shibani Lal, Trigun Maroo, Pynshailang Nongsiej, and Shishila Shimray. They will be competing in the graduate and innovation divisions. SYMPER is the first three-in-one, sit-stand-sleep electric wheelchair product with advanced technological innovations to improve health monitoring. “SYMPER, as a product, can notify and alert its user’s emergency contacts via a mobile application installed on the user’s phone and enable hospitals to maximize space by reducing the number of beds,” said Nongsiej. Fifty students representing 18 teams from eight Arkansas universities made virtual presentations to nearly 30 judges during the final round of the 20th annual Arkansas Governor’s Cup competition. Martial Trigeaud, a ��Vlog��ý Little Rock adjunct professor in the College of Business who is mentoring the three ��Vlog��ý Little Rock teams, said one of the biggest challenges for this year’s competition was the quick switch to virtual presentations due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “I am very proud of all of our teams and think they have a great chance of winning the Arkansas Governor’s Cup,” Trigeaud said. “The main challenge with this year’s competition was to switch to an online presentation weeks before the presentation There is a big difference between giving an online and a face-to-face presentation. The students worked very hard to deliver a great presentation. On the plus side, we were able to record ourselves, watch our presentation beforehand, and get feedback.” The distribution of the Governor’s Cup $154,000 cash prize pool includes $25,000 to the winners of the graduate and undergraduate divisions, $15,000 to the second place winners in both divisions, and $10,000 for both third place winners. Faculty advisors for all six winning teams each receive $2,000 in cash. For the Innovation Division, a winning team is chosen in both the graduate and undergraduate divisions. Each team will receive a $5,000 cash prize. The competition does not require teams to launch their businesses; instead, they are rewarded for the rigorous and real-world experience they gain as competitors. They are also exposed to the state’s rich entrepreneurial history and discover the opportunities Arkansas has to offer to entrepreneurs who want to start businesses in the state. “Thanks to videoconferencing technologies and the flexibility of everyone involved in this process, we’ve been able to pull off this competition in the midst of a world turned upside down,” said Rush Deacon, CEO of Arkansas Capital Corporation, which manages the Arkansas Governor’s Cup. “I encourage everyone to log in to the Arkansas Governor’s Cup website at the appointed hour, where you’ll find a link to the live awards presentation.” While many business and entrepreneurial competitions around the country have been canceled, Trigeaud is grateful his students have the invaluable experience of participating in the Arkansas Governor’s Cup. “Arkansas could have just canceled the competition, but they worked very hard to put the event on,” Trigeaud said. “We applied to other entrepreneurial pitch competitions, but they were just canceled. I think it’s great that the Arkansas Governor’s Cup was put online and was still able to provide the students a great business competition experience.”

��Vlog��ý Little Rock student entrepreneurs come out on top at Arkansas Governor’s Cup

Ajani Oyindamola — Thu, 11 Apr 2019 20:44:12 +0000

A dream team of student entrepreneurs from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock has won two of the top honors at the Arkansas Governor’s Cup Collegiate Business Plan Competition, a statewide business plan competition for college and graduate students sponsored by Arkansas Capital Corporation. �� The Vascugenix team won first place in the Winrock Automotive Undergraduate Division and a $25,000 prize.��The team also captured first place and a prize of $5,000 in the undergraduate Innovate Arkansas Innovation Division for a total of $30,000 in prize money. Team members include ��Vlog��ý Little Rock students Noah Asher, senior finance and economics major and Donaghey Scholar; Abigail Resendiz, senior international business and management major and Donaghey Scholar; and Zach Cochran, senior economics major. Martial Trigeaud, a ��Vlog��ý Little Rock adjunct professor and business consultant at the Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center, serves as the team’s mentor. “I am very proud of the team,” Trigeaud said. “The Arkansas Governor’s Cup is an amazing event with amazing judges, and we are very proud to be the winners of the 2019 undergraduate division and innovation division competitions.” The group collaborated with and Baptist Health Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit Nurse Anna Helm to commercialize a medical device invented by Chrisman. The device, the Speed-Torque, is a medical torque device used by surgeons in minimally invasive heart surgery. In addition to the Arkansas Governor’s Cup awards, the team was named a semifinalist in the Rice Business Plan Competition Aug. 4-6 and plans to launch its medical startup company after raising a significant amount in funding from investors. MBA student Gabriella De Lima also joined Vascugenix for the Rice competition. When Trigeaud first suggested the students enter the prestigious Rice Business Plan Competition, Asher thought it was a waste of time.

��Vlog��ý Little Rock’s Team Vascugenix won first place in the Winrock Automotive Undergraduate Division and first place in the undergraduate Innovate Arkansas Innovation Division at the Arkansas Governor’s Cup.

“This is the largest and richest student startup venture competition in the world,” Asher said. “Only 42 teams from 400 applications from the top universities are chosen. It would take an act of God for an undergraduate team to get selected.” “The hard work in Martial Trigeaud’s business boot camps paid off, and we made it,” Resendiz added. As one of 15 teams to make it to the semifinalist round, the students took home a $2,000 prize. One of the allures of competing in the Rice Business Plan Competition is the ability to pitch and network with hundreds of judges consisting of investors, venture capitalists, CEOs, entrepreneurs, and corporations who are looking to invest in the next big idea. “You’re sitting in a room with a sea of millionaires who are looking to invest in your company,” Cochran said. “That is just from people who came up to us at the competition and saw our pitch. We have a significant amount of people who are interested in investing in our company.” Asher believes their company is appealing to investors because they already have a mature business plan with a viable product that can be launched relatively quickly. “One of the reasons I think we did so well raising money is that we are a mature startup company,” he said. “We have a very simple but needed product that fits in a niche market that we can dominate. It can give investors a quick return on their investment.” The students say the experience they have gained pitching in front of investors is invaluable. “I can now say that I’ve successfully pitched in front of ventures capitalists, and that is a cool thing to say in front of potential employers,” Resendiz said. “Competing at the same level of master’s and Ph.D. students and people who have 15 plus years of experience in their fields and still being able to surpass them is an excellent feeling.” After an eventful week of competitions, Team Vascugenix isn’t resting on its laurels. The students left the Arkansas Governor’s Cup and immediately headed to the airport to compete in the Schulze School of Entrepreneurship at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota April 11-13. Funded by the , the challenge is the largest undergraduate-only venture pitch competition in North America in terms of cash prizes with a top prize of $75,000 and $250,000 in total prizes awarded.

Team Vascugenix competes at the Rice Business Plan Competition at Rice University on April 4. Team members include, from left to right, Abigail Resendiz, Zach Cochran, Martial Trigeaud, Noah Asher, and Gabriella De Lima.

“We wouldn’t have made it into this competition without the help of the university’s photographer, Ben Krain, who shot a seven-minute video we needed to enter this competition,” Resendiz said. ��Vlog��ý Little Rock’s team is one of 25 finalists selected from more than 100 entries representing 61 colleges and universities across America. Students will participate in a “pitch slam” elevator pitch event and an innovation challenge. Teams also will be awarded for outstanding potential to have social and global impact. Student teams also will be networking with top entrepreneurs from around the country, including Richard M. Schulze, founder of Best Buy. The students would like to thank Trigeaud; Dr. Jane Wayland, Stephen Harrow Smith Dean of Business; Laura Fine, director of the Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center; and Dr. Mark Funk, chair of the Department of Economics and Finance, for their assistance in developing their startup company and participating in competitions. Once the competition season is over, Vascugenix will move forward with plans to develop the Speed-Torque for a commercial release. “We’ll look for the investors who fit the best with our company culture and vision for the future,” said Asher. “We want investors with the right networks of contacts who can help us succeed.” They are also in talks with health technology accelerators to conduct pre-market clinical trials through Baptist Health and possibly the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. “After our clinical trial, we will be ready to begin selling in the market. We will target the South and Midwest based out of Little Rock,” Asher said. In the upper right photo,��a team of business students (Zach Cochran, bottom left,��Noah��Asher, center, and Abigail Resendiz, bottom right) from ��Vlog��ý Little Rock have won first place in the Winrock Automotive Undergraduate Division and first place in the undergraduate Innovate Arkansas Innovation Division at the Arkansas Governor’s Cup. The students collaborated with Arkansas Cardiology Interventional Cardiologist Dr. Dwight Christman, back left, Baptist Health Cardiovascular Nurse Anna Helm, center left, and Martial Trigeaud, back right, to commercialize a medical device invented by Chrisman to help cardiologists perform heart surgery with greater safety and efficiency. Photo by Ben Krain.

Get Started with the Arkansas Governor’s Cup

Ajani Oyindamola — Tue, 04 Sep 2018 16:36:36 +0000

The Collegiate Business Plan Competition brings an opportunity for teams of college students to win a grand prize of $25,000 while exploring their flare for entrepreneurship.�� The, based at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, will host a free “Get Started with Governor’s Cup” workshop from 10-11 a.m. on Thursday, Sept. 20, in Ottenheimer Library Room 535 for ��Vlog��ý Little Rock students interested in joining the Governor’s Cup competition. Who better to give advice on how to prepare for the 2019 Governor’s Cup than this year’s winners of the undergraduate division who brought home $25,000? Noah Asher, a senior finance and economics major, was a member of Spiritum Solutions, along with team members Nicholas Lester, Kiauna Rome, and Ingrid Helgestad. Stuart McLendon, ��Vlog��ý Little Rock adjunct professor, served as team sponsor of Spiritum Solutions. In addition to the team’s grand prize, McLendon received $2,000 as team sponsor, and Asher received a $2,000 cash prize for winning the undergraduate elevator pitch competition. At the workshop, Asher, McLendon, and ASBTDC will share advice on how to form a strong Governor’s Cup team, how to write a robust business plan, and how to pitch successfully in front of judges. For more information, contact Martial Trigeaud at mxtrigeaud@ualr.edu.

After winning Governor’s Cup, ��Vlog��ý Little Rock student startup has eyes on bigger prize

Ajani Oyindamola — Thu, 02 Aug 2018 14:44:11 +0000

��Vlog��ý Little Rock students Nick Lester and Noah Asher are putting their prize-winning business plan into action.�� Their company,��Spiritum Solutions, along with team members Kiauna Rome and��Ingrid Helgestad, won the undergraduate division of��the��2018 Arkansas Governor’s Cup. Now they want to bring their innovative medical device – a mouth guard to keep patients undergoing surgery or other procedures from injuring themselves – to market.

The young entrepreneurs are getting help with their startup from the Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center.

��On-campus assistance

The center’s��met Lester in 2016 when Trigeaud was a ��Vlog��ý Little Rock graduate student. They competed in the Governor’s Cup together. Lester reached out to his former teammate, now an ASBTDC business consultant, to help the Spiritum Solutions team prepare for this year’s competition. “I helped them prioritize all their great ideas into something they can manage and deliver,” said Trigeaud. Spiritum has also benefited from the center’s��in-depth customer and competitor research. “Martial has worked with us since we just were an idea, to help us secure funding, and now looking into SBIR grants. He continues to check up on our progress to help address our ever-changing needs,” said Lester.

“The market research is extensive and allows us to look into areas that we might not have considered before,” Lester said. “We use these reports as a guide for who we might need to make customer discovery with next.”

��Entrepreneur mindset

While the Governor’s Cup prize was $25,000, commercializing a medical device will require a much larger sum of money and��“moving from a student mindset to an entrepreneur mindset,”��said Trigeaud. “You raise a little through competitions, but you need millions to launch.” Lester and Asher understand the challenge before them and appreciate having Trigeaud and the center in their corner. “As our company grows, our��needs change��with the growth,” said Lester. “We will consult with experts at the ASBTDC in helping us address our ever-changing��needs.” This article was written by Gwen Green, communications coordinator at the Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center.��

- University News Archive - ����Vlog��ý Little Rock

����Vlog��ý Little Rock team wins $10,000 in Arkansas Governor’s Cup

Three ����Vlog��ý Little Rock teams competing in Arkansas Governor’s Cup finals