Kipp Bradford ’95 ScM ’96 Wins Elevator Pitch Contest

Brown alumni and students had another strong showing at the sixth annual Rhode Island Elevator Pitch contest. The event, sponsored by the Rhode Island Business Plan Competition, was held at the Rhode Island Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (RI-CIE) and included 48 presenters.

The winner was Kipp Bradford ’95 ScM ’96, a Brown engineering alumnus and current faculty member, who pitched the KippCool Medical Cooling System, an ambulance-based emergency cooling system that could help improve the chance of survival for heart attack and stroke victims. According to Bradford, research has shown that cooling the body could reduce mortality by 50 percent. The device is currently in production and could be deployed in more than 35,000 ambulances across the country. Bradford and his company Kippkitts LLC took home the $300 first prize. Bradford described Kippkitts as a company that invents products that “solve problems that matter” in medical, engineering and design fields.

In total, four of the nine finalists had Brown connections. Two students from Steve Petteruti’s Entrepreneurship I class, Engineering 1930G, were also finalists. James McGinn ’12, a biomedical engineering concentrator, pitched JCD Wind, which aims to make seamless, high strength lightweight carbon fiber turbine blades. Han Lee ’12, a commerce, organizations, and entrepreneurship (COE) concentrator, pitched GLS Mobile Board, a solar-powered mobile display that will project on location-specific billboards, including the backs of trucks. Both of them won $50 each. In addition Brown student Brielle Friedman pitched BodyRox Fitness, a dance fitness company.

The contest required the competitors to pitch their business idea to a panel of six expert judges from the Rhode Island business community in 90 seconds. The contest is a prelude to the annual Rhode Island Business Plan Competition, which features more than $200,000 in cash and prizes. Applications for the business plan competition close on April 2. Winners will be announced on May 3. Please go to www.ri-bizplan.com for more details.

For the official RI Business plan release on the competition, please go to:

http://www.ri-bizplan.com/tabid/251/Default.aspx

For the Providence Business News story on the event, please go to:

http://www.pbn.com/adasdd,63073