Last week, hundreds of students from across the Harvard community gathered at the Harvard Innovation Labs for our Spring Venture Program orientation. We couldn’t think of a more fitting way to start the decade than by welcoming our largest spring cohort ever.
More than 350 teams are participating in the Spring Venture Program. Students come from all 13 Harvard schools to develop ideas and businesses across dozens of industries, including arts, broadcasting, education, food & beverage, healthcare, and water transportation, to name a few.
Every team in the Spring Venture Program will have the opportunity to compete for $10,000 in prize money as part of the Ingenuity Track of the President’s Innovation Challenge (PIC), an annual event designed to bring together the Harvard community to work on inventive solutions to some of the world’s most pressing problems. Of the more than 350 teams, we’ve selected 100 as Semi-Finalists for the PIC. These teams will have the opportunity to compete for $300,000 across three tracks: Social or Cultural Impact; Health or Life Sciences; and Open, for ideas that transcend categories. The Bertarelli Foundation is generously funding all of the 2020 President’s Innovation Challenge prizes.
We greatly look forward to supporting each of the student teams as they move their ideas and businesses forward in the coming months, and hope you’ll join us on May 13 to celebrate their accomplishments at the President’s Innovation Challenge Awards Ceremony. You can register to attend at innovationlabs.harvard.edu/events/the-2020-presidents-innovation-challenge-awards-ceremony/.
Below is a list of the 100 President’s Innovation Challenge Semi-Finalists, and you can read about all of the Venture Program teams here.
- 1Room delivers an individualized high school education through offline tablets in one room, with a single staff member.
- Ace is a branding agency that provides models, social media content, Photoshop editing, and influencer marketing for brands.
- acelab empowers ACE professionals to make responsible choices through preconstruction intelligence.
- Acrobatics Circus Troupe uses acrobatics and education as a foundation to fight poverty.
- Active Parenting enables parents to carry out high quality interactions with their children through fun and simple activity videos.
- Aliro Quantum Technologies is building software to make today's quantum computers accessible and useful to any software developer.
- AquaPlastic mitigates the menace of plastic pollution we have developed through a plastic that is water-processable and biodegradable.
- Ayanda uses offline technology to discover vendors and items, and to message other users entirely without the internet.
- Beacon Biomimetics makes phonografts 3D-printed from novel, biodegradable ink, which can repair damaged eardrums and passively enhance sound conduction.
- BikePath tells bike and scooter sharing companies where to equitably and efficiently place bikes and scooters.
- Boston Votes! is working towards 100% civic engagement in MA high schools and beyond through its college-high school mentorship program.
- Breaktime prevents long-term chronic homelessness by launching the careers of young adults experiencing homelessness.
- Center for Intimacy Justice is rewriting business rules through its coalition/campaign to allow advertising and entrepreneurship of women's intimate health products.
- Change The Tune (The Lab) is an innovative and accessible summer program model providing impactful learning opportunities for youth and educators.
- Churchill Foods sustainably and ethically grows meat without killing an animal.
- Club Cana is a soccer apparel brand and club, inspired by the global heritage and style of the sport.
- Coding it Forward is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit empowering the next generation of technology leaders to create social change.
- CollabReality uses VR simulations to develop interpersonal skills (leadership, collaboration, etc.) in the workplace.
- Concerto Biosciences discovers functional microbial communities for human therapeutics using a patented, high-throughput screening platform.
- Conductscience.com is the Etsy for scientists—a marketplace for revenue-based tech transfer of academic inventions.
- Corelant Technologies helps customers close more deals via faster prospecting of commercial real estate with automated market analysis.
- CryoDerm builds cooling bandages for surgical wounds to control pain, decrease opioid usage, and get patients home faster.
- Dealmaker List is a “LinkedIn for commercial multifamily apartment investors.”
- Debate Spaces brings middle school students together from disparate backgrounds to learn debate and activism skills.
- Dental Key is an online dental education platform that transforms the way dental students learn clinical dentistry.
- Dia Health is a virtual newborn care coach that educates and supports both the mom and baby.
- DozeOn is an Apple Watch application that detects driver drowsiness and alerts the driver before they doze off.
- DreamworldVR combats loneliness and helps develop emotional & social intelligence for isolated pediatric patients.
- Educational Materials spreads love and knowledge around the world through educational materials, workshops, trainings and conferences.
- FIND Surgical Sciences is developing a platform technology to integrate and visualize multi-modal neuroimaging data for improving surgical outcomes.
- Fractal streams GPU-powered, Windows 10 desktops to any macOS, iOS, or Windows device.
- g.Root Biomedical Services helps cancer patients find personalized targeted therapies by merging machine learning and clinical expertise.
- GenUnity is a civic leadership program that empowers individuals to affect real, systemic change in their local community.
- GOViral finds patients and connects communities to help eradicate hepatitis B in the Philippines.
- Green Bean makes coffee more sustainable and more convenient by redesigning the way coffee is manufactured and packaged.
- GRYPS is an AI powered platform that extracts and categorizes information from construction documents.
- H2Ok Innovations empowers communities with the knowledge for sustainable access to clean water through AI and IoT.
- Healthy Girls Save the World, Inc. provides programs to help underprivileged girls adopt healthy lifestyles.
- Helen Health is a digital health platform that connects people with the best oncology resources in the world.
- Hercules is a contact organization system that automatically keeps track of your expanding personal network.
- Hibiscus Monkey is a millennial personal care startup. It makes & sells all-natural products formulated from my grandma’s recipes.
- High Table is a members-only professional networking community.
- Hikma Health is a data platform integrating predictive models & decision support into accessible systems for MDs & refugee patients.
- Hire Simpler curates data driven matches between applicants and companies in a timely, cost effective, and efficient way.
- Human Agency builds tools to democratize social enterprise, enabling people to turn ideas or intent into action without developers.
- humanID is a Single Sign-On enabling platforms to block bots and abusive users, and protects users’ data from leaks and abuse.
- Immigrants Like Us is a legal aid nonprofit that prepares immigration documents using a "turbo-tax"-style web platform.
- Immunity Health is an analytics company using medical data to improve clinical trial recruitment and operations.
- International Orchestra of Refugees empowers displaced musicians to become musical ambassadors of peace, through orchestral opportunities and community.
- Juntos Boston provides financial and relational support to unaccompanied Central American students to help them graduate high school.
- Knot is a software platform that automates data management for physicians so they can get back to the bedside.
- Koodos is building a fun Gen Z-native experience around content discovery, sharing and curation. Text any emoji to 566-367 or m.me/Koodos to try it.
- Larissa Health Tech lets patients receive their post-op instructions from a friendly animated avatar who greets them warmly in the recovery room.
- Leela Khan is Etsy meets Aliexpress, with a South Asian twist.
- LeverEdge uses group buying power to negotiate down loan rates.
- Limax Biosciences makes a strong, stretchy, and flexible hydrogel adhesive platform - based on bio-inspired materials - to seal wounds and promote healing.
- Loo Works transforms plastic waste and wood waste into sturdy construction materials to create toilet structures and digesters.
- Loro is a socially assistive robot that gives people with mobility challenges the ability to control, communicate, and connect.
- LotusMicrosystems is creating a new generation of small and efficient power converters for smart electronic devices.
- Marlo is a workplace mastery platform, starting with a tool to find and fix unproductive meetings.
- Metalmark Innovations is developing nanostructured materials for highly efficient decomposition of air pollutants, making clean air accessible and affordable.
- Meteor is minimalist fine jewelry with impact — sustainable, ethical, circular-economy silver & gold jewels empowering women.
- Microsprout helps parents and students access community resources to save for college and take on less debt.
- Mismatch is a real-time video platform that connects U.S. middle and high school classrooms across distance and divides.
- Napkin, Data Science Toolkit Simplified is a statistical toolkit for machine learning, allowing engineers and data scientists to better clean, parse, and visualize data.
- Naya Studio is a digital platform for affordable personalized furniture. We take you from idea to product delivered to your door.
- Nearsighted Globe has developed a high-science, low-cost, easy-to-use tool for diagnosing nearsightedness, targeting remote communities.
- NeuronSpike Technologies Limited is developing brain-inspired AI processors to power autonomous technologies with energy-efficient and adaptive intelligence.
- Nom Pot makes healthy, one pot meals for easy home-cooking.
- Ntoma Chocolate is a Ghana-based chocolate producer, moving the local cocoa industry beyond bean exports into high-quality chocolate production.
- OnRamp is a customer partnership platform helping B2B SaaS companies provide world-class onboarding to new customers.
- OptiNutri offers new, locally sourced malnutrition treatment and prevention products that can reach more children and support local development.
- Overjet uses AI to analyze dental clinical data and help payers and providers improve patient care and profitability.
- Pepper Pot Tea Company is empowering women tea producers. The company serves consciously-sourced premium whole leaf tea, blended-to-order in small batches.
- PionEar Technologies is revolutionizing the treatment of ear infections with novel ear tube implants with unique drug transport capabilities.
- Place.Int is a video analytics platform that transforms video data into actionable business insights.
- PreciGene is developing CRISPR gene editing therapeutics for triple negative breast cancer.
- ReadToMe listens to students read books/articles aloud. It coaches students and provides data for teachers and parents.
- Roost Coffee Company brings simple, elegant, consistent cold-drip coffee to the home with an automated appliance.
- Save Identity builds and designs dignified community spaces and neighborhoods for refugee communities.
- Schneider Economics is creating the Wellness Quotient™, a single statistic to amalgamate the big data of healthcare.
- SECURE is a personal safety app allowing users to easily share GPS coordinates and signal for help.
- SESEWA is preparing youth in Nigeria for the world of work by equipping them with in-demand skills and connecting them to work-based employability skills, while offering businesses work-ready and value-adding interns.
- Shamiri Institute, Inc. helps adolescents with depression and anxiety to thrive, improving mental health, grades, and relationships.
- Shamsina provides access to affordable solar technologies for energy poor communities.
- ShelfLife makes ordering from and communicating with suppliers faster and simpler—saving time while boosting margins.
- Shelly Xu Design is the first zero waste fashion startup with original designs that are more accessible, versatile, and fully zero waste.
- Sports Industry Influencers is a community building organization focused on improving D&I in sports biz through events and developing a digital network.
- Stowe is the AirBnB for storage space.
- Surge Employment Solutions sources, trains, and places formerly incarcerated people for highly skilled trade positions.
- Tang is a mobile app that allows Filipino overseas workers to send money home, and the receiver to use the same app to e-pay.
- Teacher Impact Collaborative leverages VR & AR tech to support districts in developing effective processes to recruit and retain teachers of color.
- Teaching Artists International transforms musicians into global citizen artists through cultural exchanges that support music education around the world.
- Tekal brings scalable AI solutions in social policy and infrastructure to an untapped market segment: low/mid tech cities.
- The AMEL Project trains human rights activists in how to change their societies from within.
- The Apprentice Project builds 21st century life-skills and socio-emotional skills by using co-curricular activities as a medium.
- The Concordium is a web-based video conferencing platform serving as an e-support network for socially isolated seniors.
- The Negotiat'HER Project increases girls’ power by building their negotiation skills, through in person training and a digital learning platform.
- The Perfect Chai Maker is building a machine to make a traditional cup of chai with the touch of a button.
- Troav is Rent the Runway for consumer products: become a member and borrow anything, anytime.
- Umbulizer is developing a reliable, low-cost, and portable device that can provide continuous ventilation to patients.
- Veri Nano has developed a self-healing, antimicrobial gel barrier with unique nanotechnology to prevent mastitis in dairy animals.
- Village is catalyzing women’s advancement by building community spaces anchored in daycare that centralize family and childcare.
- Visionairy Health is developing an automated chest x-ray screening solution to reduce radiologists’ workload and increase their efficiency.
- Wala Digital Health is a digital blood service modernizing the process from volunteer donors to those needing transfusions.
- Waveback is an app that allows users to meet new people and try new things by creating and viewing activity-related posts.
