GAINESVILLE, Fla.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–#CadePrize–Named after Dr. James Robert Cade, the lead inventor of Gatorade, the Cade Prize for Inventivity celebrates early-stage companies with innovative ideas and commercial potential. On Tuesday, October 14, fifteen finalist teams gathered at the Cade Museum for Creativity and Invention for the final rounds of judging and the awards ceremony.
Quornix, a biotechnology startup from Bloomington, Ind., won the Grand Prize for developing pioneering therapeutic technologies to treat bacterial diseases. In addition to winning the grand prize, the all-female team was named the Environmental category winner and in all, was awarded $60,000 in equity-free cash, as well as hours of no-cost legal counsel, marketing support and product development consulting.
Following their win, Julia van Kessel, Ph.D., the president and co-founder of Quornix said, “We are deeply honored to have been awarded the Cade Prize for Inventivity. We’re incredibly proud to be part of a promising future shaped by science, creativity, and meaningful impact that is supported by the Cade Museum.” When asked how they plan to spend the prize money, Kessel said, “We plan to put the prize money toward some important (and big) experiments to further develop our technology that would not have otherwise been possible. The financial and mentoring support associated with this award will help us make meaningful steps toward our goal of providing sustainable anti-virulence therapeutics for human health and aquaculture.”
The winning teams of the remaining categories each received $10,000 in cash as well as legal, marketing, and product development services. The category winners include:
- Sports: Mud Rat of Storrs, Conn. for developing eco-friendly biomaterials for the marine and action sports industries.
- Healthcare: NanoNeurosciences of Alachua, Fla. for NanoGlaucoOut, a platform for advanced peptide-based nanomedicines to treat conditions such as glaucoma, epilepsy, and depression.
- Technology: Immunogenik of Gainesville, Fla. for 8R-70CAR, a CD70-targeted CAR T cell therapy designed to treat aggressive, treatment-resistant cancers such as GBM, pediatric high-grade gliomas, and brain metastases.
- Wildcard: Floe of New Haven, Conn. for their automated ice and snow prevention system for commercial and residential buildings.
Lastly, local college and high school students in attendance selected Mud Rat for the Student Choice Award.
With the Cade Prize in its 16th year, the event has now celebrated a total of 16 Grand Prize winners, named 87 teams as finalists, and awarded $981,000 to date. “It’s in Cade Prize’s DNA to elevate inventors and entrepreneurs in their earliest stages, when they need it the most,” said Cade Museum’s chief executive officer, Bradley Gamble. “Our 15 finalists were very impressive, and I am so grateful for all our expert judges that contributed their time, and our sponsors and donors that made this event possible with their generosity,” he added.
“This year we unveiled our Cade Inventor Laureate Award, and presented it to Chris Malachowsky, co-founder of NVIDIA. Chris was so gracious to meet with our students, our finalists, and share his inspirational and entrepreneurial journey with the crowd,” said Richard Miles, co-founder of the Cade Museum.
The 16th annual Cade Prize for Inventivity, presented by Scott R. MacKenzie, was sponsored by the Community Foundation of North Central Florida, The Florida High Tech Corridor, Gatorade, Cyle Sage, OneSixOne Ventures, Saliwanchik, Lloyd & Eisenschenk, 3D Musketeers, and NVision Strategies.
About
The Cade Prize for Inventivity — named after Dr. Robert Cade, lead inventor behind Gatorade — celebrates inventors and entrepreneurs, who, through an innovative invention, demonstrate a creative approach to addressing problems in their field of expertise. Learn more at cadeprize.org.
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Julie DeCarmine, [email protected]
