
The student startup competition is in its eighth year and gives out $500,000 in cash and additional business services to the winners. SEFCU, the Albany-based credit union, is the title sponsor of the event, which is hosted by SUNY Poly and the University at Albany.
In addition to the grand prize, SparkCharge also won a $10,000 first-place prize for the clean technology category, one of six categories including advanced technology, social entrepreneurship/nonprofit, information technology/software, products, and services. NYSERDA, the state’s renewable energy development agency, sponsored the clean tech category.
Second-place winners for each category were also given $5,000, and third-place winners received $1,500.
Although no Capital Region student teams posted first- or second-place finishes, a student team from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy running a startup called Sanguine Diagnostics won third place in the advanced technology category.
Also, students from Hudson Valley Community College in Troy were part of a student team with students from the University at Buffalo and Clarkson University that won the Undergraduate Excellence Award in the product category. That team won for a startup called StairSafe.Since the competition began in 2010, more than 2,100 student teams from 75 colleges and universities in the state have been awarded more than $2.3 million in cash and services.
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Article from Time Union: http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/