Albany Law Students Reach Final Round in $100,000 Business Plan Competition
Albany Law School students are competing on three of the teams that will present their startup ideas at the final round of the sixth annual New York Business Plan Competition on April 24, 2015, in Albany. The three teams, which also include representatives from other Capital Region institutions, will compete against the top teams from 10 semifinal competitions held around the state.
Vincent DiCocco ’15 and Laura Gulfo ’15, with a partner from the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE), comprise the LuxOrioN team, which is pitching a novel LED phosphor technology that offers a 40 percent reduction in cost when compared to incumbent LED lighting device manufacturing processes.
Shawn Lescault ’15 is working with partners from CNSE and the University at Albany Business School on Aureonic, a venture to develop high-temperature nano-sensors to detect greenhouse gas emissions in turbine engines, coal-fired power plants and other combustion environments.
BrewMinder, a team comprised of Alexandra Scoville ’15 and Kevin Murphy ’15 and students from CNSE and the University at Albany Business, is also developing a nano-sensor, as well as analytic software, that will allow breweries to monitor their product without taking physical samples.
The Albany Law students are participants in an entrepreneurship class offered at the CNSE, which they can do as part of the partnership between Albany Law and SUNY Polytechnic Institute’s CNSE.
More than 1,130 student teams from almost 75 of New York’s colleges and universities have pitched their ideas and ventures at the competition over the years. The winners are selected each year by esteemed judges, including venture capitalists, angel investors, investment bankers, other sophisticated public and private investors, and seasoned entrepreneurs. At the end of the 2014 competition, more than $1,300,000 in cash and in-kind prizes have been awarded to student entrepreneurs in New York.
SUNY Polytechnic Institute’s Colleges of Nanoscale Science and Engineering, University at Albany’s School of Business and Syracuse University host the New York Business Plan Competition.
