Learn about each final startup before the final competition on August 25th!
ServUS – Columbus, OH
Tell us about ServUS:
Our mission at ServUS is to empower the world’s service-minded students to solve the world’s biggest problems. We are creating a website that matches people to local non-profits based on their interests.
Why is this idea important to you?
I hope that our platform will make it easier for nonprofits to carry out their day-to-day activities. I am personally looking forward to a world where students lead the way towards a sustainable 2050.
Is there anything else you want readers to know?
Our platform is currently enrolling nonprofits into our first cohort. If there is an organization out there that needs more volunteers or is interested in our mission, please reach out to the ServUS team at Servus.cbus@gmail.com.
ParaWave – Columbus, OH
Tell us about ParaWave:
Our mission is to equip public safety with drone technology to gather and communicate critical information from the air.
During emergencies, it is critical for first responders to view the live video feed from Parwave’s drones. We needed to develop a platform to stream video feed in an efficient manner that first responders could quickly and easily interact with. Once we heard about CodeLaunch, we applied and are excited to have been selected as finalists. We are thrilled to work with Centric Consulting to bring this app to fruition.
Why is this idea important to you?
We value protecting our community members and supporting our first responders’ safety.
Is there anything else you want readers to know?
We are passionate about drones, and we wanted to develop drone technology that was meaningful to the community. Both of us are upcoming senior undergraduate aerospace engineering students at Ohio State graduating in May 2023.
Metatopia Network – Cleveland, OH
Tell us about Metatopia Network:
Metatopia is decentralized cloud computing for Web3 applications. Cloud3 for Web3. We provide users with the tools they need to build decentralized applications, metaverses, and NFT projects.
Why is this idea important to you?
After college, I tried to start a career in animation and game development. As a freelancer, I was always limited to a less-than-capable device that I could afford. Now I’m providing solutions that help people like myself, excel no matter what device you are about to afford. All of the resource-intensive features are executed in the cloud.
Is there anything else you want readers to know?
I like to call myself the “Creative Engineer”. I am a musician, film director, and visual artist. But I am a software engineer that teaches computer science and physics.
Mastery Portfolio – Columbus, OH
Tell us about Mastery Portfolio:
If I asked you to describe an “A” student, you probably could, but if I asked five different people to describe the characteristics of a B student, I would get five different responses. Why? Because traditional grading is broken- it’s a points and averages game and doesn’t motivate students to achieve. Mastery Portfolio helps schools and districts redesign how they do grading and assessment to increase equity and celebrate actual progress on skills with clear data visualizations and a thoughtful roadmap to implementation that keeps all community members in mind.
Why is this idea important to you?
In education, the bottom line is student achievement. We must be able to accurately measure that at the classroom level, teaching students to assess themselves, set goals, and reflect. Once we do, we can roll that information all the way up so school systems can make strategic decisions to increase student achievement across the district.
Is there anything else you want readers to know?
We are actively adding new schools to our portfolio. Contact us today for support with your assessment and skills-tracking needs. MasteryPortfolio.com
AlignAI – Columbus, Ohio
Tell us about AlignAI:
AlignAI is an ed-tech company built by AI professionals for AI professionals. Our mission is to help data & AI practitioners go from learning to doing faster. We focus on process-based, hands-on training to help organizations design, build, deploy, and manage AI more effectively. We have seen our customers increase the impact and adoption of AI solutions they are building after cross-skilling their employees through AlignAI.
Why is this idea important to you?
The global talent gap is real. People aren’t learning critical concepts around AI fast enough to fill the openings. As practitioners, we saw this gap consistently across industries. Companies were attempting to unlock AI capabilities in order to compete but did not have the in-house talent or pipeline of individuals who could get them there.
The AI educational content today is falling short for the working professional focused on what we refer to as ‘operationalizing AI’ – building and maintaining AI models at scale within a company. Universities are not keeping up with relevant practices, and general content massively available today does not drive direct application within organizations. This one is personal for us, as we’ve all sat through hours of slides, videos, and generic examples only to step back and ask “What did I just learn?” and more importantly, “How do I take this information and use it in my day-to-day?”
Is there anything else you want readers to know?
Curiosity is at the core of our culture. We are all working to solve hard problems every day by running experiments and seeing what works. We are hyper-focused on providing a hands-on AI learning experience, with a curriculum designed around direct application.
We accomplish this by:
- Partnering with vetted experts across the globe to constantly update our curriculum and match what real teams are doing today. The industry knowledge & best practices are ever-evolving, and our learning content should too.
- Developing the simulations and exercises first. With every course, we start with the end goal of direct application in our customer’s environment. We then build in only the content that is needed.
- Constantly testing our curriculum to make sure it’s effective and interesting with our active network of partner companies. If they don’t think it’s valuable, we don’t publish it.