On Thursday, November 20th, the Alex. Brown Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation hosted the Idea and Innovation Challenge Final Event. The event included fifteen finalists, which consisted of students from various UMBC majors and disciplines. The teams presented their ideas in front of an audience of students, professors, community members, and an esteemed panel of judges, Mike Adelstein ’96, Don Miner ’10, and Marian Saunders White ‘87.
This year, the Alex. Brown Center offered three tracks for students to enter: The Technology & Innovation Track, the Social Impact Track, and the Spark Track. The prompt for the Spark track was the idea of Nancy Burger and Scott Weber: “Reimagining the Future of Social Media: Create a concept for a social media platform that’s just as engaging and
viral as the ones we use today — but designed to uplift, not undermine.
After students from each of the tracks presented their ideas, they faced questions regarding their idea from the judges. Once all presentations were complete, the judges deliberated and came to their final decisions for the stand-out ideas from each track. While the judges decided on the winners, the audience had the opportunity to vote on the Best Presentation of the night.
We deeply appreciate the generous sponsors of this event, Scott Weber ‘85 and Nancy Burger, for making this event possible and supporting UMBC’s entrepreneurial community!
We are proud to announce this year’s winners:
TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION TRACK
1st Place: ORBIT
Presented by: Malak Abdeldayem, Samira Ali, Farell Kimble and Lehbah Amin
- Idea: A parking app that addresses the issue of finding parking by enabling people leaving and coming to coordinate swapping parking places at a given time and location
2nd Place: SWAGGIEZ GLASSES
Presented by: Steven Nomenyo
- Idea: Sunglasses with interchangeable lenses and charms
3rd Place: A-EYE
Presented by: Anjali Jha
- Idea: A color-vision deficiency assistant which utilizes smart glasses and a mobile app to provide users with helpful information they need
4th Place: Budget2Broker
Presented by: Saumya Brahmbhatt, Haley Patel and Atuh Fon
- Idea: A website that assists people by providing financial education focused on investments and budgeting
5th Place: LoopSpot
Presented by: Sai Rapelli
- Idea: A privacy-first event coordination app
SOCIAL IMPACT TRACK
1st Place: Bhavan
Presented by: Esha Manoj
- Idea: Personalized door designs for residents in assisted-living spaces that help residents convey their identities and make the halls feel more like home
2nd Place: Project Forward Africa
Presented by: Daniel Abumere
- Idea: This company will connect companies around the world to qualified AI and software engineers in Africa who have been pre-vetted.
3rd Place: H2gO
Presented by: Ephrata Mangesha and Lexie Merrifield
- Idea: A “safe” bottle that provides insulation to your drinks along with safety tools including a whistle and pepper spray
4th Place: Shamsa
Presented by: Rania Abu-Nijaila and Julia Barr
- Idea: A device that can help give many people safe drinking water and cooking surfaces–a compact solar-thermal device that cooks food and purifies water from a shared source of power
5th Place: Uniconnect
Presented by: Sina Razaghi
- Idea: An online platform that provides an all-in-one place for students to see things such as course ratings, practice exams, networking opportunities, program requirements, and more
SPARK TRACK
1st Place: NETTY
Presented by: Maria Hoffen and Valerie Zhou (ALSO BEST PRESENTATION)
- Idea: A sea-themed social media app designed to fight the pressure of perfection and celebrate life that gives users a prompt at random times of the day that they can respond to and share what they are doing or where they are doing, thereby creating “ripples”
2nd Place: SOCIALSCAPES
Presented by: Brian Hughes
- Idea: A social app that would give people the opportunity to connect in-person at meetups and create authentic connections
3rd Place: The Grove
Presented by: Kamarya Buckley
- Idea: A social media platform that turns each post, story, doodle, or reflection into a “seed” that grows into a digital tree and rewards balanced usage of social media and rewards offline time
4th Place: AuraSpace
Presented by: Tamil Gurunathan
- Idea: A next-generation social media platform engineered to optimize for user wellbeing through an emotionally intelligent feedback loop
5th Place: HUMANSPACE
Presented by: Sara Abbas and Oghenerona Akpeneye
- A social media platform that is safe, mindful, and human-centered in which users share “moments” and rather than other users responding publicly, they respond privately with empathetic reactions
Best Presentation: NETTY, presented by Maria Hoffen and Valerie Zhou
Quotes:
“Participating in the Idea Innovation Challenge pushed me to think beyond limits, transform a simple idea into a practical solution, and embrace the thrill of creating something that could make a real impact. It showed me that entrepreneurship is not just about ideas, but about taking bold steps to turn them into reality.” Sara Abbas
“UMBC did a phenomenal job with the show. The potential for Swaggiez and the other ideas are endless. They worked with me and provided me helpful feedback to ensure I made it to the top!” Steven Nomenyo
“Participating in the competition was an eye-opening experience. Presenting my idea and receiving feedback helped me think more deeply about the real-world impact and future potential of my project.” Sina Razaghi
“As a freshman, presenting The Grove and winning third place in the Spark Track was incredibly energizing. The Idea & Innovation Challenge gave me a space to test a real vision and realize that even early in my college journey, my ideas can have an impact. The experience pushed me to grow, communicate clearly, and believe more deeply in what I’m building.” Kamarya Buckley