Developer of new flat panel display technology wins first Nanotechnology Business Idea Competition
QD Vision, Inc. of Cambridge, MA takes $50,000 Prize
November 3, 2004 | For more information: Jeff Bendix (216)-368-6070
 A company developing what it hopes will be the next generation of flat panel displays took first prize and a $50,000 check in the first annual Nanotechnology Business Idea Competition, held at Case Western Reserve University.
QD Vision, Inc., a Cambridge, MA-based start-up company, is targeting the growing market for the next generation of flat panel displays for uses such as cell phones and laptop computers. Its principals have developed technologies based on tiny dots known as quantum dot light emitting diodes (QDLED) which promise to deliver higher-resolution images using less power and at lower cost than competing technologies. “We are very excited to receive the first-place award,” said Seth Coe-Sullivan, interim chief executive officer and chief technology officer of QD Vision. “We think we’ve got a very strong idea and it was very satisfying to be recognized for it.”
A graduate research assistant at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Coe-Sullivan said he and the other principals in the company have been developing the technology for four years. He added that they will use the prize money to finish purchasing the intellectual property rights from MIT.
The competition was the culmination of NANO Week in Cleveland, a week-long exploration of the commercial potential of nanotechnology in medicine, materials and manufacturing. Other events during the week included the NanoMedicine Summit and the National Cancer Institute’s Nanotech Symposium series.
Forty-nine proposals from 14 states and four countries were submitted in the first round of the business idea competition. Twenty-five were invited to present their ideas in person in a semi-final round, with eight teams participating in the finals. Second place, which included a $15,000 prize, went to General Lighting Inc. of Boston, a designer of low-power, carbon nanotube-based lighting for use in backlighting mobile communications products. Third prize and $10,000 went to Cornell DNA Nanobarcodes, which uses DNA to build customized barcodes which can be used to identify viruses.
The other five contestants each received $1,000. They were Clinical Nanotechnologies Corp. of Columbus, which is developing a fast, targeted pain relief device known as the Buccal Patch; Y-Carbon of Philadelphia, which is developing supercapacitators using nanoporous carbon materials to store energy for hybrid automobiles; Applied Standard, Inc. of San Francisco, a designer of nano-based sensors to identify problems in electrical transformers by detecting hydrogen emissions; Magnetic BioSystems of Philadelphia, which is developing a targeted drug delivery system using magnetic implants; and Alpha V Inc. of Chapel Hill, N.C., which is designing extremely long-lasting microbatteries to power miniature sensors.
InTICE, the Institute for Technology Innovation, Commercialization and Entrepreneurship at Case hosted the competition, along with Nano-Network.org and the Entrepreneurship division of Case’s Weatherhead School of Management. Robert Hisrich, InTICE’s director and the A. Malachi Mixon III Professor of Entrepreneurship at Weatherhead, said “It’s very exciting to see such a combination of imaginative thinking and science. The number and quality of proposals we received exceeded our expectations. With the success of this event, we expect even more proposals next year.”
Judges for the event were drawn from Morgenthaler Ventures, Blue Chip Venture Company, Draper Triangle Ventures, HB Fuller Ventures, and Koch Ventures. Support came from NorTech, Nanofilm LLC, Forest City Enterprises, Draper Triangle Ventures, the David and Lindsay Morgenthaler Foundation, and the A. Malachi Mixon III Chair of Entrepreneurial Studies.
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