CONTACT:

Jordan Reese, 215-573-6604
jreese@pobox.upenn.edu

Staci Bender, 610-304-0070
sbender@slicecommunications.com

PHILADELPHIA, March 2009 - The Weiss Tech House, a student-run hub of technological innovation at the University of Pennsylvania, announced today its sponsors for PennVention 2009, the Weiss Tech House’s annual student invention competition. Returning this year as event sponsors are QVC, Inc., Bresslergroup, Lowenstein Sandler PC, Paramount PDS and Tierney Communications. New sponsor Meltwater Group is also joining the event this year. Collectively, the sponsors are offering nearly $60,000 in cash prizes and in-kind services in support of students who are creating, developing and commercializing innovative technologies. In addition to the core student invention competition, PennVention 2009 also will include an inventor’s fair and student-founded company presentations that will be held in the Wu and Chen Auditorium at the University of Pennsylvania's School of Engineering on April 10, 2009.

“The motivation and brilliance of the students at the Weiss Tech House shines even more during the PennVention competition each year, says Anne Stamer, Executive Director of the Weiss Tech house. In our fifth year, I am so honored to be working closely with sponsors who provide guidance and support in helping the students launch their innovative products to market.”

PennVention sponsors have offered educational workshops, monetary donations and/or in-kind services tailored to their specific industry expertise. Sponsor-provided PennVention prizes include:

• Meltwater Social Innovation Award: Meltwater Group, a Norwegian IT company, will award PennVention's newest prize of $2,500 to the innovation with the greatest social impact.
• Bresslergroup Best Product Concept Award: Bresslergroup, a product development firm and PennVention Silver Sponsor, will provide $2,500 worth of professional services to be used at the winner’s discretion towards research, concept development or CAD modeling in the development of their product for production.
• Bresslergroup will also provide one-on-one product development mentoring for the ten student teams presenting at the 5th Annual Invention Fair in April.
• Lowenstein Sandler PC Legal Mentor Award: The law firm of Lowenstein Sandler PC, a PennVention Bronze Sponsor, will provide five hours of legal counsel to selected PennVention winners and assist in their strategic plans for business development.
• Cisco Systems as a PennVention Bronze Sponsor.
• EZ Numbers is providing use of their financial software to PennVention teams.

Recently, PennVention 2005 winner Samuel Reeves received funding from the U.S. Department of Defense. Reeves, co-founder of Humanistic Robotics, Inc., used the awarded cash and in-kind services awards to secure intellectual protection and continue with prototype testing in order to obtain patents and navigate the incorporation process for his robot that clears land mines at a fraction of the cost of previous machines.

ABOUT THE WEISS TECH HOUSE:
The Weiss Tech House is a student-run hub of technological innovation at the University of Pennsylvania that encourages and supports students in the creation, development and commercialization of innovative technologies. The 3,000 square foot facility offers student meeting space, computer labs and other resources for student inventors and entrepreneurs including our in-house Innovation Fund, PennVention inventors' competition, educational workshops, speaker series, and business mentoring programs. For more information, visit www.tech-house.upenn.edu.