On Tuesday, the San Jose State Silicon Valley Center for Entrepreneurship held the 2022 Silicon Valley Innovation Challenge in the Student Union, a competition showcasing 40 entrepreneur teams, which competed for awards by exhibiting their ideas and projects.
Sarika Pruthi, SJSU entrepreneurship associate professor and Silicon Valley Innovation Challenge organizer, said the 40 teams, after first passing an online judging round, have been invited to exhibit their projects in front of 27 judges.
Pruthi said she was relieved to host the event in person after the past two editions were virtual because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“People can meet with each other face to face, and it's a fantastic networking opportunity,” Pruthi said. “It also helps in the judging process, because if some judges have questions, they have not had a chance to look at all innovations in the first round, they can come back and ask questions.”
She said the judges evaluated the teams with different criterias, focusing the attention on the unicity of teams’ ideas, skills and the innovative elements of their projects.
“We are looking for the problem students are dealing with, and what's the solution to that problem,” Pruthi said.
Among the 40 finalist teams, biotechnology master students, Nicolas Costa, Nestor Rodriguez and Alexandra Piliotis won first place for the 2022 Best Overall Innovation.
The team presented Kitchen Sync, a project focused on accessible at-home hormone tests.
Rodriguez said their idea was to create quick tests that do not require specialized equipment to be used by people, without the presence of trained personnel or doctors.
“What we want to do is something you can do at home very simple and you get the results right to your phone,” Rodriguez said. “Alongside those measurements, if certain hormones like estrogen or progesterone are really low, you also get recommendations, and you can keep those levels up and upgrade your lifestyle choices with diet and exercise.”
The main reproductive hormones estrogen, testosterone and progesterone are instrumental in sexuality and fertility. They are responsible for pregnancy, puberty, menstruation, menopause, sex drive and sperm production, according to a Jan. 24 article by Endocryne Society.
Rodriguez said he was surprised by the win because he wasn’t expecting his team to win third place.
“I'm really happy about it. I think I screamed when they announced it,” Rodriguez said.
In addition, Costa said they will talk about the future of their project throughout the winter break.
“We will see if we're actually, you know, going forward with it, like creating an actual business,” Costa said. “I think all of us have jobs right now, so it would be something to just kind of keep in mind and start in the background.”
The three places for 2022 Overall Best Innovation were not the only awards available for the teams.
Biotechnology master students, Maleeha Burney and Naeun Park, won the 2022 People’s Choice Award presenting Nabi, a company producing flushable pads made with all natural plant based products.
Burney said their product is very unique because of the absence of flushable pads on the market.
