Innovative UA Start-Up Advances to Business Competition Finale

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — A University of Alabama start-up company developing technology to charge cell phones, and other portable devices, wirelessly advanced today to the finale of a state-wide business competition.

Judges selected e-Electricity and four other companies to move forward in the quest for prize money in the 2013 Alabama Launchpad Start-Up Competition after hearing pitch presentations from nine entrepreneurial businesses.

Twenty-seven teams started the competition cycle, a program of the Economic Development Partnership of Alabama.The teams, competing for up to $100,000 in prize money, are in the “proof of concept” phase. The competition, in its seventh year, is geared to promote, reward and increase the pipeline of high-growth innovative ventures that have the potential to create and keep jobs in Alabama.

e-Electricity is developing wireless harvesting, allowing mobile devices to recharge wirelessly, eliminating the need for an electrical outlet.

Dr. Jaber Abu-Qahouq, UA assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering; Dr. Whitney Hough, venture development associate with UA’s Office for Technology Transfer; and Will Sanders, a UA senior marketing major, from Mobile, are members of the team led by Sloan McCrary, a UA Master of Business Administration student from Alpharetta, Ga.

The competition continues into the fall, when a Sept. 26 finale will coincide with the third annual Alabama Launchpad Innovation and Entrepreneurship Conference at the Wynfrey Hotel in Birmingham set for Sept. 26-27.