Entrepreneurs Compete at UA’s April 10 AIME Day

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Nineteen entrepreneurial teams, composed of University of Alabama faculty and students, will compete for approximately $100,000 in start-up funding and in-kind services Friday, April 10, during UA’s annual AIME Day.

Hosted by UA’s Alabama Innovation and Mentoring of Entrepreneurs Center, or AIME, the competition gives innovators a forum to pitch their technologies, inventions and ideas to potential investors.

The event also gives members of the investment and business communities an opportunity to hear presentations about specific UA-based technologies and entrepreneurial activities underway on campus, said Dr. Carl A. Pinkert, UA vice president for research and economic development.

“Creating jobs and otherwise spurring economic development activity in our community, state and region is a driving force behind our campus’s innovation efforts,” Pinkert said.

Multiple presentations, each about 10 minutes, will be made throughout the day, beginning about 8:45 a.m. and concluding about 2:50 p.m. when judges begin deliberation. Much of the day’s events will be held in room 110, while those presentations made between 10:15 a.m. and 11:15 a.m. will be in the building’s high bay area.

A group of seven outside entrepreneurial experts will select winners from among the day’s participants. Those winners will share in the start-up funding, made possible by a National Science Foundation Innovation-Corps grant.

AIME, a part of UA’s Office of the Vice President for Research and Economic Development, focuses on bringing concepts from University of Alabama researchers and creating testable prototypes to demonstrate the value the ideas bring to the marketplace. Directed by Dr. Dan Daly, it also helps start-up companies create business plans and apply for select funding opportunities, and it provides laboratory and office space, through UA’s Bama Technology Incubator, where companies can begin operations prior to full start-up phase.