By: Sharon Aron Baron
Twelve local innovators presented their ideas at the “Innovate Downtown” event to a panel of investors.
Beginning with a presentation by independent wealth consultant Charles Schwartz, he spoke about the top three ways successful leaders disrupt everything thing they are taught about innovation, and how others can too. He then introduced 12 local creators who presented their inventions and technology to the investors.
The following night at the Unplugged music festival hosted by the City of Coral Springs, the innovators showcased their creations to attendees – and the public were able to vote on the “crowd favorite.”
The panel of judges, included local entrepreneurs and investors: Matthew Bordy, Rafael E. Hernandez, Barry Spiegel and Randall Wood.
After listening to all 12 presentations and receiving additional feedback through Q&A, the judges selected: Two Degrees, a technology company that created a proprietary algorithm using geo-location, phone and email contacts to spread awareness of local daily deals.
Attendees at Unplugged picked “crowd favorite,” Strawfish, LLC, a social venture with the mission of removing single-use plastics from our oceans – one straw at a time. This is done by partnering with an indefinite landscape of consumer purchasing destinations and proposing the opportunity to subsidize their current plastic straw cost by providing free paper straws. The only caveat is that the paper straws, provided to each individual company/establishment will have targeted advertisements printed with FDA-approved ink on the straw itself.
Winners each received $1,250 courtesy of Bluestream, three coaching sessions and an in-house 3D print courtesy of Prototype House and Two Degrees received a scholarship to attend 4Geeks Coding Academy.
The 10 additional creators included businesses and inventions from: 3 in 1 Roof, Inc.; 3 in 1 Frame; Mind & Melody; The Healthy Knowledge; ClogNever; Reef Cells; Earthware Inc.; SciKey Diagnostics; Simple-Safe Bitcoin; and HomeHERO.
The city will host the event once again in 2020.
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