On April 22, 2020, Hyper Innovation hosted a live, virtual event to share progress on two exciting tech exploration projects. Industry experts talked about strategies for accelerating emerging tech exploration innovation and Hyper Innovation CEO Sandra Bradley gave an update on work being done by innovative students.
Event Presentations
Creating the Future of Work with Virtual Reality
The student team working with Holos is in the process of developing a 3D file management system that is creating distinctive and beneficial solutions using virtual reality. The project is very user friendly as it allows the user to physically “grab” the files with their hands. It is also visually appealing as the folders and files are clearly laid out. This project adds a functionality that is not feasible in 2D managers. The team is using tools such as Blender, Unity, and SteamVR to craft their project.
Following the presentation the students were asked how they plan to implement names of the files into the system, and they hope to integrate them into the actual files by linking them to the VR headset. Also, the team sees the technology as being very important to the industry world as it makes the file management process more efficient.
The Holos student team consisted of Kyle Adler, Freshman studying in the College of Engineering, Hunter Zhang, Sophomore studying in the College of Letters and Sciences, Liana Bautista, Freshman studying in the College of Letters and Sciences and Isaac Perrilles, Graduate Student studying in the College of Engineering.
Strategies for Emerging Tech Exploration, Trends and Talent Development
Jonah Turner, Head of Emerging Technologies, Molson Coors spoke about his organization’s mission to accelerate their organizational capabilities and culture through implementation, integration, and adoption of emerging technologies. Jonah referenced the importance of mindset and motivation in demanding innovation from everyone, everywhere, embracing diversity of people and opinions, thinking like a customer/end-user/consumer, and celebrating innovation and innovators. Jonah sees innovation as a pipeline: Engage → Explore → Experiment → Elevate → Execute. He also spoke about culture, and how creating unique and rewarding opportunities can develop, empower, and attract talent while helping to fuel the pipeline of new ideas.
His favorite projects [in working at Molson Coors] were ones where university students were engaged, and community partnerships were formed.
Petra – Thermographic AI Solutions for Improving Diabetes Care
Petra is looking to combat diabetes, as it has become an international epidemic. Their diagnostic system predicts ulcers in the feet of diabetes patients before breaking through the skin and prioritizes high-risk patients and early intervention, while maintaining a cost 10X lower than existing solutions.
Petra has formed connections with Dr. Bartholow, CMO at NeuGen Health, Jonathan Horne, Managing director at Idea Fund, and Nick Glattard, CTO EnsoData through their connection with Hyper Innovation. They hope to move forward by obtaining an SBIR Grant to engage in a longitudinal pilot study. Through their technology, Petra can create a new diagnostic modality to transform current standard of care and an opportunity to alleviate enormous financial burden and patient suffering.
The Petra team is made up of two students, Thor Larson, a Senior in the College of Engineering, and Jan Wodnicki, a Junior in the College of Engineering.
Accelerating Innovation Through External Partnerships
Thomas Yen, Sr. R&D Manager, Experience Design, BD-Integrated Diagnostic Solutions, apple about the value in staying on top of new opportunities and changes in the marketplace and the need for scalable, repeatable processes for innovation and ways to measure success. Thomas proposed that innovative ecosystems are adapting quickly and strategically means more efficient ways of leveraging ecosystem resources. He also spoke about how internal innovation is effective, new product introduction and external innovation allows for lower risk, more rapid learning, and additional resources.
Accelerating Innovation: Examples and Case Studies of Work in Hyper Innovation’s Tech Exploration Lab™
Sandra Bradley, CEO, Hyper Innovation, presented on past projects that have taken place within Hyper Innovation’s Tech Exploration Lab™. The Tech Exploration Lab™ is a digital playspace focused on addressing corporate/startup driven industry problems to solve leveraging multidisciplinary student innovation for shared learning, hands-on experience, and talent development.
Clairvo was an indoor navigation startup founded by 4 UW-Madison students. Hyper Innovation provided mentorship and corporate connections for product validation and testing, furthering the students project beyond the scope of campus resources.
Hyper Innovation in partnership with the Dairy Innovation Hub hosted the first-ever Dairy Innovation Challenge at UW-Madison to provide opportunities for students to identify and vet solutions for Wisconsin’s largest industry, connect with industry mentors, and collaborate in a multi-campus opportunity with UW-River Falls.
PythonicAI is leveraging the Hyper Innovation Digital Health Simulator™ to accelerate the growth of their business which focuses on natural language processing to automate claims processing. Through their partnership with the Simulator, PythonicAI has access to data and resources difficult to obtain by other means.
Students working in an AI Sandbox hosted by Hyper Innovation’s Digital Health Simulator™ were offered the opportunity to explore a use case leveraging large data sets. One such project in the AI Sandbox was focused on Injury Risk Prediction with NFL Data, looking to identify whether one specific player position is more vulnerable to injury on synthetic or natural turf and examine factors that may contribute to injury. A second project within the AI Sandbox was Using AI to Reduce Readmissions in Healthcare to identify whether demographic data from populations is an indicator for hospital readmissions post-care.
Our Event Sponsors
Hyper Innovation is an Innovation-as-a-Service agency that bridges the gap between complex, real-world problems to solve and innovative, executable solutions to drive growth and value. The Hyper Innovation Tech Exploration Lab is a digital playspace focused on addressing corporate/startup driven industry problems to solve leveraging multidisciplinary student innovation for shared learning, hands-on experience, and talent development.
Holos is a Madison-based startup developing a VR platform for use in the classroom, and immersive training. Holos offers tools educators and industry partners can use to increase participant engagement and retention in the — taking learning beyond the book or screen for “hands-on” experiences. Immersive learning experiences are the future of in-class education and industry training.
