A total of 39 teams competed in this year’s Student Innovator of the Year Competition. The Varsity Theater was packed on Thursday with innovation enthusiasts and interested investors who came to watch the nine finalists present.
The first place prize of $5,000 was awarded to Owlet, a revolutionary baby monitor incorporated into a sock. This sock, an alternative to traditional baby monitors, aims to decrease the instance of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) while allowing parents to get some much needed sleep. It measures the oxygen level in infants and alerts parents on their mobile devices when it drops too low. Owlet was also awarded the “crowd favorite” prize of $1,000.
Second place, an award of $3,000, was given to iLived. iLived is the self-proclaimed “Facebook for dead people.” This product, which has already partnered with FamilySearch.org, allows users to upload pictures and memories onto their online family trees. It is scheduled to be released with FamilySearch’s next wave of updates.
Leenovation and Intuiplan tied for third place and were both awarded $2,000. Leenovation’s ByBell consists of a doorbell with a built-in camera, microphone and speaker that can be operated remotely via a smartphone app. Intuiplan functions as an alternative to inefficient paper systems used by restaurants and companies, replacing bulky, disorganized binders of information with a single electronic interface.
An additional $1,000 was awarded to HIVEN (a device that prevents pipes from freezing in winter) for having “great potential.”