Ten interdisciplinary teams will participate in the Intelligence++ Showcase Competition on Tuesday, April 26. The competition is the culmination of an inclusive design and entrepreneurship program featuring two courses, DES400/600 taught by College of Visual and Performing Arts professor Don Carr and Beth Myers, inclusive education assistant professor and executive director of the Taishoff Center, and EEE453/653 taught by Linda Dickerson Hartsock, adjunct faculty, Whitman, and executive director of the Blackstone LaunchPad.
The program, open to both undergraduate and graduate students from any school or college at Syracuse University including students from InclusiveU, emphasizes interdisciplinary and collaborative innovation. The program and competition prize money were funded through a generous donation from Gianfranco Zaccai ’70 H’09 and the Zaccai Foundation for Augmented Intelligence (Intelligence++TM). The Foundation seeks to develop, stimulate, and leverage technological, educational, and organizational innovation to enable and empower individuals with intellectual disability, their families, and their communities to improve quality of life, enhance independence and productivity, lower cost, and benefit society.
Ten teams were selected to present their proposals for products, services or technologies to advance innovations serving those with intellectual disabilities.
The teams are:
- Aidan Mickleburgh, Abridgd
- Bearett Tarris, Natural Gait
- Cata Baumgart, Serene Senses
- Jack Rose, Blade Point Media
- Rabia Razzaq, Snake Scarf
- Riley Blumenthal and Jessica Mitchel, Inclusive Environments
- Ting Kang, The Relaxation Pod
- Travis Ghirdharie, Many Hands
- Xinyi Wang, Food AI
Judges will include:
- Gianfranco Zaccai
- Chris Kennedy McKelvy
- Doug Cramer
- Lori Jacobs
The pitches will be live, in-person in the Milton Room (411) Whitman School of Management, and are open to any who are interested in watching. They will also be streamed and can be watched on-line: https://syracuseuniversity.zoom.us/j/95072670587
The event begins at 1:30 p.m., with presentations, pitches, and an award ceremony and reception at 4:30 p.m.