Stories of Technology, Innovation, & Entrepreneurship in the Southeast

From the University of Louisville:

The University of Louisville (UofL) has launched a new entrepreneurship program aimed at helping students develop innovations that save and improve lives. Named the Bluegrass Biodesign program, it is a nine-month training course where students gain hands-on experience creating and testing their ideas in the real world.

The curriculum includes opportunities to prototype new designs while participating in workshops and lectures led by faculty at the UofL School of Medicine, College of Business, and J.B. Speed School of Engineering. 

“This is about training the next generation of innovators in health care and medicine,” said In Kim, a Professor of Pediatric Medicine and Program Lead. “With Bluegrass Biodesign, we hope to equip UofL students with the tools they need to launch technologies that can save lives.” 

Students complete the program in multidisciplinary teams, each blending undergraduate and graduate students in medicine and engineering. The idea is that they each bring insights from their own area of expertise that could help them solve problems and innovate.

“What we find is that innovation is a team sport,” said Beth Spurlin, an Associate Professor and Co-Director of the program. “The best solutions come from different people with different perspectives working together. With Bluegrass Biodesign, we give students the opportunity to experience that before they even leave campus.”

Eight teams — a total of 58 students — participated in the 2024-2025 cohort.

From the University of North Georgia:

The iDEA (innovateDahlonega Entrepreneurship Accelerator) Community Pitch Challenge was held recently at the University of North Georgia (UNG) Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation (CEI) Launch Pad at the Dahlonega Campus, with seven out of the original 13 applicants vying for prizes totaling $20,000.

This challenge was part of the Google.org Rural Communities Grant, administered by the CEI at UNG in partnership with the Dahlonega-Lumpkin Chamber of Commerce, the Lumpkin County School District and the Development Authority of Lumpkin County.

Bobby Anderson walked away with the top prize of $10,000 for HingePost, a product that addresses the limitations of traditional flatbed platforms by offering the first lightweight, rotatable and easy-to-install gate system, enhancing safety, convenience and functionality for flatbed truck users.

Second place went to UNG junior Kian Esmaeili for Café Tehroon, a restaurant “bringing the rich flavors and cultural heritage of Iran to Lumpkin County, offering a unique dining experience that combines traditional Persian cuisine with a modern twist, inviting guests on a flavorful journey through Iran’s vibrant tastes and aromas,” Esmaeili said. He is from Woodstock, GA, and is pursuing a degree in cybersecurity. He received $6,000.

From the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill:

The Gillings School of Global Public Health recently celebrated student entrepreneurship during the third biannual Pitch Competition. The event featured six teams of student finalists participating in a head-to-head challenge, leveraging their public health knowledge. The winners were:

• First Place: Sensible Pad which is a diagnostic menstrual pad that non-invasively screens for cervical cancer at a low cost.
• Second Place and People’s Choice Award: Olea Health which transforms healthcare accessibility for underserved populations by providing artificial intelligence-driven, SMS (short message service)-based health education and preventative care solutions.
• Third Place: MedFam which provides discounted lodging rates to families in emergency medical situations through hospital and hotel partnerships.

From the University of South Carolina:

A team of scientists at the University of South Carolina (USC) is using a $3.4 million grant to develop new technology for personalized medical treatment and more accurate medical diagnoses.

USC faculty members from medicine, chemistry and mathematics are leading various aspects of the five-year project funded by the National Science Foundation’s Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR). (USC’s portion of the project is part of a $20 million grant that includes researchers at Clemson University.)

The project focuses primarily on building artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted biomedical tools — in the form of apps or software — to serve as a diagnostic and treatment resource for physicians and other health care providers.

“The device would basically be like an AI assistant, prompting a physician to consider different possibilities in a diagnosis or treatment plan,” says Qi Wang, a USC Professor of Mathematics and Co-Principal Investigator on the project. “The device tries to analyze the situation based on all the information the doctor can gather — and from the knowledge base at large, including medical textbooks and research papers.”

A foundational concept of the project involves crafting digital twin models for humans, Wang says. “The digital twin concept has been around for years in industry, but we’re now migrating the idea to medical science.”

In an industrial setting, a digital twin is a virtual replica of an object such as an airplane wing or wheel bearing that allows engineers to model outcomes and predict performance over time. A digital twin of an individual human body follows the same concept, inputting myriad physical characteristics to create a virtual model with which a physician could explore various treatment options and better predict health outcomes in the actual patient.

From Wright State University:

Local veterans and their spouses who want to start a business now will have a more convenient way to get resources, thanks to the opening of Wright State University’s Veteran and Military Center. It is one of 31 Veterans Business Outreach Center (VBOC) offices across the nation and the first to open in Ohio.

Designed to support these budding entrepreneurs, VBOCs welcome local veterans to explore how best to navigate the programs and opportunities provided by the Small Business Administration. The Center will support veterans and their spouses who pursue a business, an Small Business Administration loan, or designation as a veteran-owned business to attract federal contracts.

From Loyola University Maryland:

Loyola University Maryland’s Simon Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship received the “Excellence in Entrepreneurship Teaching and Pedagogical Innovation” award from the Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers. The award recognizes the Simon Center’s Applied Angel Investing class.

“Students who are lucky enough to take Applied Angel Investing have a transformative experience that they share with the early stage Baltimore founders whose ventures they recommend for investment,” said Wendy Bolger, Founding Director of the Simon Center.

Students in Applied Angel Investing recommend Baltimore ventures for $20,000 investments from the Loyola Angels Fund, a $250,000 charitable fund established in 2021 that supports local under-resourced entrepreneurs, especially Baltimore-based minority- and women-owned businesses.

To recommend the investments, Applied Angel Investing students attend pitch meetings and analyze companies. They learn the history of early-stage investing; the entrepreneurial landscape and social inequities in Baltimore; concepts and vocabulary in fund formation and investment vehicles; risk management in the funding and decision-making process; and models of valuation.

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