Students pitch at WiSys Innovation On-Ramp Pitch Event
This past fall, 361 students from UW-Green Bay registered and completed Innovation On-Ramp, a five-week learning course that encourages students to grow their innovative thinking skills. As part of the course, students focused on finding problems worth solving, coming up with inventive solutions, and then identifying target markets and sharpening communication skills.
The culmination of this course happened on Wednesday, Dec. 6 with the WiSys Innovation On-Ramp Pitch Event, where six students partook in the final pitch event. UW-Green Bay freshman Jessica Hagberg earned first place with her app Bloc. Bloc is an automated time-blocking app that would sync to Gmail and Outlook calendars and allow users to add additional tasks to the app. The app would then block off time on the calendar based on priorities and deadlines. It aims to help users manage their time and days more efficiently. This win also qualifies Hagberg for the WiSys Big Idea Tournament. There, she will compete against students from across the Universities of Wisconsin. The event will take place on April 19, 2024, hosted at the Idea Fund of La Crosse.
Senior Riley Arneson took second place at the pitch event with the idea of Password Pro, an online tool to help create stronger passwords. Third place went to students Cody Leisgang and James VanderWyst for their project Dispensinator, a hands-free smart method for automatically dispensing food in controlled portions to tree up employees to focus on other aspects of work. Two additional students also pitched. Mason Chaltry pitched Relief Ball, a smart golf ball that uses GPS to track balls with the aim to keep golfers from losing their golf balls. Brendon Fitch pitched Mobile Robot Pathing Applications, which is a robot that uses grid technology to help other robots move safely in a warehouse setting.
This event was judged by Tara Carr, director of the Small Business Development Center at UW-Green Bay, Vinith Poduval, SVP & Chief Innovation Officer at Schreiber Foods, and Jennifer Corbett, Chief Marketing Officer at Midwest Games.
