Catalyze Klamath Falls heats up as eight entrepreneurial teams make their way to the finals

Eight Oregon Institute of Technology (Oregon Tech) teams are well on their way to the fourth annual Catalyze Klamath Falls Challenge on May 17. The teams have been drafting concepts and plans since the start of the competition in October, participating in planning sessions with faculty advisors, practicing their pitches and fine-tuning their business plans in Shark Tech-style launch gatherings.

Current teams include:

• Brevada Brewhouse: Coffeehouse expanding into beer and wine offerings.
• David Murphy, Seth Gretz, Spencer Jackson, Isa Daibes
• Fleur de Lis: Premium dispensary concept.
• L.B., Trinidad Gonzales, Clayton Maves, Ephraim Church
• Klamath Venture Consultants: Helping inventors bring their concept to life.
• Jason Peters, Benjamin Porter
• Linking Limb-er: 3D-printing to create prosthetics and other medical equipment.
• Dakotah Webb, Adam Arrington, Bailey Bixler
• Lit: Transferring heat from a candle into electricity to charge devices like phones.
• Avery McMillan, DJ Harryman, Ethan Cole, Connor Scott
• OrbitOWLS Space Services: Utilize new technology to send small satellites and other devices to space for a fraction of the price of current methods.
• Micah Hicks, David Minar, Julien Mindlin-Davidson, Brandon Camp, Ben Porter
• PocketBar: App which scans liquor bottles and presents users with helpful information about the level of impact the drink will have on them.
• Bryan Wada, Jake Carpenter, Damian Johnson, Megan Morris
• WADRS: Current meter designed to measure the velocities and flow rate of moving water for management of water resources.
• Baker McDonald, Ory Foltz

New this year, the teams are invited to participate in workshops sponsored by InventOR, a state-wide competition for college and university innovators which will be held at Oregon Institute of Technology on June 29. InventOR brings together select teams from colleges and universities across Oregon to pitch their ideas, build prototypes, and show off the finished product for a chance to win development grants and prizes. The first workshop that was held on May 5 covered business modeling strategies with leaders from the U.S. Patent Office. The second workshop on May 22 will feature pitch coaching and venture firms explaining how to raise capital. InventOR sponsors cover all team travel and accommodation costs. This is also the first year that InventOR will be traveling to a new location for the final competition at Oregon Tech’s Klamath Falls campus.

To follow along with the teams and watch interviews about their projects, visit www.facebook.com/CatalyzeKlamath.

 

Celebrating the fourth year of competition, the Catalyze Klamath Falls Challenge has awarded nearly $100,000 in prize money and services over the past three years and continues this year with a prize pool of $22,500. Students and alumni alike have found great success and many continued on to compete at even higher levels at other invention challenges in the state.

For more information and competition guidelines go to www.oit.edu/catalyze.