Kansas startups win $60,000 from WSU Jumpstart competition

The winners of the Wichita State University Jumpstart Kansas Entrepreneurs competition were announced Friday to a full house in the Experiential Engineering Building on campus.

Recipients of the $10,000 awards for the development and production of technology-based Kansas businesses are:

• Chem-Blade from Eck Fabrication, led by Ethan Eck
• ESP-Dlux Automated Germicidal Light Infection Control System from Elevated Health Systems, led by Ann DuPuis
• Mobile App and Web Based Lawn and Snow Removal services from Lawn Buddy, by Steven Werner
• Health care monitoring system from Mobile Health Link, by Chris Deck
• Wordprint Project from Professors of Peace, by Johnna Crawford, graduate student
• Next generation adhesive athletic wearable from Vytal, by Jared Goering, sophomore, and Spencer Steinert, freshman

The program was coordinated by WSU Ventures and funding was provided by the Kansas Department of Commerce.

The winners were selected based on several criteria including technical merit, development stage, commercialization timeline, job growth forecast, collaboration with partners and time and money invested.

“This competition not only helps us identify emerging technologies among our faculty, staff and student body at Wichita State, but also helps us link innovators outside the university with valuable university resources,” said Mark Torline, director of WSU Ventures and the Center for Entrepreneurship. “These are truly technologies that will be an economic driver for the state of Kansas.”

The funding awarded will be used by the recipients for expanding their ability to conceive, develop, and / or produce technologies and to deploy new technology-based processes.

Reimbursable expenses include technical assistance, feasibility studies, planning, market intelligence, lab fees, domestic travel, technology / process development, faculty or research fees, student wages and training software / information technology.

The goal of JumpStart Kansas Entrepreneurs is to incentivize and encourage new businesses while developing the entrepreneurial spirit in the state by partnering with universities. The initiative is meant to showcase the opportunities and inherent resources available to Kansas entrepreneurs.