CONTACT:

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

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

PHILADELPHIA, March 27, 2009 - The Weiss Tech House, a student-run hub of technological innovation at the University of Pennsylvania, announced today the 10 teams of student inventors that will compete in the final round of the fifth annual PennVention competition. This year’s finalists will compete for more than $60,000 in cash and services and a chance to formally launch their products into the marketplace. The yearlong competition will conclude with an inventor's fair that will be held in the Wu and Chen Auditorium at the University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering on April 10, 2009.

The finalists, chosen for ingenuity and commercialization potential, are:

• TracFeed: Pediaphage, the product of TracFeed, has developed the first mobile device for quantitative, automated measurement that can be used to analyze sucking and respiratory patterns during neonatal feeding.
• Chronowake: Wakes users from the lightest stage of sleep, decreasing grogginess in the morning.
• Synerscribe: A multi-functional web-based platform for document production (authoring and publishing) that integrates automatic reference searching, citing, annotating and writing.
• Pink Foam: Tableware that provides a fresh perspective on an age-old tradition.
• TurboTurn: Piano players of all skill levels often complain that turning the page while playing, while not exceedingly difficult, is distracting at best. Unfortunately, page-turning options at the moment are limited to having another person turn the page for you, or purchasing an expensive, unreliable machine that must be loaded manually page by page. The TurnMeister will offer reliable turning in both directions, and will require at most 1 page to be pre-loaded. In addition, our system will allow users to cue their machine the same way that professionals cue their assistants: with a turn of the head.
• Digitag: Digital price tags reduce labor hour dollars spent by retailers and can serve as security devices. This proprietary brand casing houses the tag and enhances overall branding package.
• FlyBy: Is developing both a new method for monetizing music, and an innovative advertising channel.
• TBM: Focuses around a machine that assembles hamburgers. After receiving an order for a burger, it would stack the bottom bun, patty, condiments and top bun and then wrap or box the burger. This machine would replace the workers at fast food restaurants that make the burgers.
• StealthRowing: Leading the rowing community in social awareness by returning profits to environmental causes and making rowing more accessible to inner-city youth, StealthRowing will design and manufacture specialized rower's training equipment that allows rowers to experience the full effects of on-the-water training while indoors.
• Recwave.com: An online community for Recreation Professionals. Social networking technology has yet to reach small town governments on a national scale and RecWave.com plans to fill this need.

Open to all Penn students, the PennVention competition teaches students how to turn a good idea into a commercial product through three distinct rounds. Participants gain access to the feedback and guidance of more than 40 industry experts as they learn about issues like patenting, product design and manufacturing.

"Past PennVention winners have been able to incorporate businesses, secure venture capital funding and successfully take their products to market. Recently, PennVention 2005 winner, Samuel Reeves, received funding from the U.S. Department of Defense," said Weiss Tech House Director Anne Stamer. "We are extremely proud of our past winners and very excited about the potential of this year’s 10 finalists."

Leading up to the Invention Fair, each finalist will receive one-on-one product development mentoring from Bresslergroup, $250 in cash to build a prototype and a chance to apply to the Weiss Tech House Innovation Fund for a grant of as much as $1,000.

At the finals, a panel of expert judges will award more than $60,000 in cash and prizes sponsored by: Bresslergroup, Lowenstein Sandler PC, Cisco Systems, Meltwater Group and a new sponsor to this year’s competition, EZ Numbers who will be providing financial software to the PennVention teams.

For more information about this PennVention, please visit www.tech-house.upenn.edu.

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.