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In its second year in a virtual setting, the New Venture Challenge (NVC), CU Boulder鈥檚 premier entrepreneurial startup program and competition, dazzled with high energy and even higher-flying ideas curated by CU Boulder students vying for their share of $150,000 in prize money.

The 13th annual event鈥撯�揹ubbed NVC14 for superstition鈥檚 sake because, according to emcee and Associate Professor of Law Brad Bernthal, 鈥淲e could not risk the jinx鈥濃�撯�揵egan with a more serious tone than in years past as Bernthal took a moment to reflect on the trials of the past year.

鈥淭here鈥檚 been no shortage of problems that have picked us over the past 13 months,鈥� Bernthal, who co-founded NVC,听said. 鈥淟et鈥檚 take a moment and reflect on what we鈥檝e lost over the past year and take a moment to be grateful for those heroes who have emerged in ways big and small over the past year as well.鈥�

Equipping heroes in our communities quickly became the theme of the evening.

The winner of the challenge, HUG Solutions, drew inspiration from the doctors and vaccine distributors and administrators working to end the COVID-19 pandemic by developing PortaVax, a portable vaccine transportation cooler capable of carrying mRNA vaccines at -70 degrees Celsius for four days.

鈥淚鈥檓 so speechless,鈥� Brayden Shelley, a CU Boulder senior mechanical engineering student and CEO of HUG Solutions. 鈥淥ur whole team has been incredible working through the challenges that we have had. We have all worked so hard on this project and I couldn鈥檛 be more proud of our team.鈥�

Life-saving innovations听

While PortaVax won the grand prize of $30,000 cash in addition to a $25,000 investment, the pitch wasn鈥檛 the only one of the night with an end goal of improving the health and safety of others. Five of the six finalists鈥� startups centered around products or technologies aimed at increasing safety in the baby直播app, providing a more tangible training experience or developing a new way to mass-produce life-saving drugs.

The motivation behind Dustin Ramsey鈥檚 company is to make every day on a worksite safer than the day before. The startup鈥檚 3D rangefinder will allow site managers to make precise measurements on job sites in order to develop safe lift plans for construction projects that involve heavy machinery.

鈥淚t鈥檚 all about safety in construction,鈥� Ramsey, an electrical and computer engineering student, said. 鈥淲e came at this problem with a goal of bringing more people home at the end of the day.鈥�

Third-place recipient ToobTek saw a similar opportunity, developing an improved intubation training method for medical professionals through an anatomically accurate model of the human airway, 3D printed with a tissue-like plastic.

Two other finalists, and , brought their own unique ideas to the table. Seedling Biosystems concept uses soybeans to scale production of major and minor cannabinoids (CBD) through synthetic biology.听

Orbital Biodesign aims to improve blood flow for surgeons who spend hours on their feet by developing a device incorporating robotic technology into a sleeve that goes around the lower leg, reducing the probability of venous insufficiency and varicose veins. Founder Dr. Danielle Carroll, currently pursuing dual-masters degrees in bioastronautics and engineering management at CU Boulder, said the NVC experience has been invaluable.

鈥淭he biggest lesson I鈥檝e learned is to trust my judgment,鈥� Carroll said. 鈥淚鈥檝e had really resounding support, which has really blown me away.鈥�

Into the future

This year鈥檚 NVC challenge has proved ideas can come from anywhere. One of the program鈥檚 pillars is to collapse the campus, providing an opportunity for CU Boulder students, graduates, baby直播app, staff and anyone else from the campus community to pitch their idea.

LGBT50 was awarded $10,000 for their software-enabled, influencer marketing agency focusing on the LGBTQ+ community on TikTok and Instagram by connecting brands with prominent influencers who align with their campaign goals. Capitalizing on the surge in popularity of TikTok, the company helped its top client earn 26 million views for one campaign in its first year.

鈥淲e started out as an e-commerce store, but then we saw TikTok start blowing up and we knew we had to jump into this,鈥� co-founder Thomas Savage said.

To date, 900 CU startups have competed in NVC, and the competition has awarded more than $700,000 in funding to startups since 2017. This funding allows an idea developed by students to transform into useful and impactful tools, while also providing them with a tangible next step to advance their product.

For PortaVax, that next step might include getting the next generation of Buff innovators involved.

鈥淎s a team of seniors, we are all graduating in May but we are excited to continue progressing PortaVax,鈥� said project manager Claire Meyer. 鈥淲e are looking to go through a business accelerator, perhaps Catalyze CU, and may even come back to the mechanical engineering department to sponsor another senior design team to continue work on PortaVax next year.鈥�