DELTA Rx and the Drake College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences recently hosted the fifth annual “Drake University Next Top Entrepreneur Competition.” The competition at Drake, consistent with the DELTA Rx mission, served to foster a spirit of change and innovation amongst Drake students across campus.
Judges were selected because of their wide variety of talents and backgrounds from the areas of business, healthcare administration and pharmacy practice. The DELTA Rx Institute received positive feedback from this year’s judges:
I count it a privilege to be able experience such bright and out of the box thinkers. I find comfort in knowing that these are the next leaders and innovators taking us into the future and I pray that they have the tenacity to keep moving forward and they will be successful! David Ogburn, US Bank, Assistant Vice President
I have been a judge for the NTEC for the past several years. The quality ideas and significant effort that the students put forth is outstanding. Win or lose from the competition standpoint, these students have gained valuable experience that will serve them well as they enter their selected career paths! Rick Knudson, Pharm.D., BCPS
Participating as a judge in the NTE competition is always refreshing. It never ceases to amaze me how innovative and prepared the students are. Judging the NTEC is always a fantastic experience! Tim Sullivan, PharmD
Teams of students with different backgrounds and majors came together to present their innovative health care related ideas to a panel of three judges. During the first round, each team presented their idea to a panel of judges in three minutes or less. During the second round, participants were given one hour to create a business plan addressing a problem revealed upon their arrival. This year’s problem was to develop an innovative product or service that addresses the growing problem of diabetes in the United States. All teams were successful and selected to continue to the third and final round of the competition. They were given five days to prepare and polish a mini-business plan presentation using one of their ideas from Round 1, Round 2, or a completely new idea. The mini-business plans were presented to a judging panel in a fifteen-minute time period with the top three teams awarded cash prizes of $1,500, $1,000 and $500, respectively. The Next Top Entrepreneur Competition is funded by a grant from US Bank and Walmart.
The Round 3 winners and their innovative ideas were:
1st Place: Nick Lund, P2 and Neel Patel, P1 , -- Diabetes Chip that is implanted into the patient. The patient can then scan chip to see blood sugar number on their smart phone.
2nd Place: Michael Schnackenberg, P2 and Joe Brandenburg, P2, -- Over the counter drug application for smart phone to provide information to patients based on signs and symptoms.
3rd Place: Nick Marshall, HS SO and Addison Eck, BN SO, Clean water filters for those who lack clean water.
The following students were also awarded monetary prizes for placing in rounds 1 and 2:
Michael Sage & K. Danielle Hahn
Ellen Briscoe & Ben Koenig
Sophomore Health Sciences student, K. Danielle Hahn, had this to say about the Next Top Entrepreneur Competition experience:
We entered the NTEC with the idea of Puppy Love, a non-profit organization that donated teddy bears to hospitalized children. Our business model centered around the idea that we would sell teddy bears and with each sale, Puppy Love would give another stuffed animal to someone at a children's hospital...It was a great experience that helped us get great feedback about our ideas and presenting skills from different individuals active in the Des Moines community. NTEC provided a fun, yet professional way to be creative and showcase our entrepreneurial side.
Thank you to all the participants and judges of this year’s event and living the mission of the DELTA Rx Institute!
