2013-2014 Competition
Winners
Senvol won the fifth annual NYC Next Idea competition. U.S.-based company that leverages 3D printing to disrupt the distribution and supply of industrial parts. They focus on which spare parts can best be manufactured via 3D printing, resulting in a reduction in secondary costs such as shipping and inventory.
Finalists
- Edenworks: U.S.-based company that delivers the future of urban farming with a sustainable, closed-loop agricultural technique that yields five to eight times more than traditional farming while consuming 10% less water and energy.
- AirCare Labs: AirCare Tablet and AirCare Voice, based in the U.S., offer inexpensive and convenient solutions that allow clinicians to remotely monitor patients through customized checklists via tablets or telephones.
- NYC Breathe: UK and the U.S.-based company that makes a wireless pollution sensor that measures and transmits the levels of major pollutants. These sensors are attached to busses, taxis, and cars and thereby collect and aggregate pollution data in real-time that conveniently displays as a heat-map.
- NINU: German-based company that is the first digital pregnancy companion that offers comprehensive advice for a better lifestyle to expectant mothers through an app-hardware-service.
- Magazino: German-based company that sells automated storage-solutions that range from entire pallets to individual items. It can license its detection and storage algorithms and seeks to create a world-wide database of how to best handle goods with robots.
2012-2013 Competition
Winners
KISI won the fourth annual NYC Next Idea competition. KISI, whose team is from Germany, is developing smartphone-managed entry security systems for buildings, apartments, and other spaces, and was selected from a highly competitive and diverse pool of more than 220 applicants submitted from 40 different countries.
Finalists
- Glovico: A Fair Trade online language learning platform where teachers from Latin America, Africa and Asia teach their mother tongues via Skype. (USA and Germany)
- FitUsIn: Simplified, on-demand booking of excess gym capacity (Australia)
- BUZZtheBar: Point-of-sale system for accelerating sales volume at bars and nightclubs (USA and China)
- Cortex International: Medical Ethics Virtual Experience, a module-based, interactive ethics education program for use at medical schools and hospitals (USA and China)
- PlusMe: Simplified last-minute group event planning and booking (Germany)
2011-2012 Competition
Winners
Two winning teams, Stylsize and TaxiTreats, were selected from a highly competitive and diverse pool of applicants, with more than 270 business ideas submitted from 62 countries. TaxiTreats is developing a vending machine to be used in taxicabs, and Stylsize is developing an app for online clothes shoppers to visualize how the clothing fits.
Finalists
International Track
- Prevision Camera from University of Economics in Prague: Marketing Prevision is developing the Prevision Camera, an intelligent and stand-alone camera embedded with analytical software. The fully automated software is able to interpret mood, number, gender, age, and facial expressions to provide real-time marketing analytics when a person is looking at an advertisement. Team members: Tomas Ivan, Simona Belesova, Adam Abelovsky, and Ivo Kralicek
- CityShare from Technische Universität München: CityShare is designing a mobile application where people can put their seldom used goods up for rent and people in need for those goods can rent them cheaply. Team members: Johannes Lechner, Diana Schneider, and Kilian Moser
- Stylsize from Queen's University in Ontario, Canada: Stylsize is a mobile and web app with a convenient solution for out-of-store apparel purchases. It will enable shoppers to visualize how a garment of clothing fits and flatters their body without the frustrating guesswork associated with today’s online shopping. Team members: Dan McCann, and Amy Bergenwall
NYC Connect Track
- AnaLyse from NYU and Karolinska Institutet in Sweden: AnaLyse plans to provide a tool that will improve animal tissue sampling. Team members: Margarita Shinder, and Aga Sowinska
- TaxiTreats from NYU’s Stern School of Business and Universidad de Buenos Aires: TaxiTreats provides and manages vending machines for taxicabs. TaxiTreats aims to improve the passenger experience and increase the profitability of owning a NYC taxi medallion. Team members: Brian Shimmerlik, and Tomas Grosskopf
- IDEA NYC from the Fashion Institute of Technology, the University of Warwick, and University of Hertfordshire in the UK: IDEA NYC is developing a non-profit fashion label, which produces and markets products imagined by NYC kids. All proceeds will fund free workshops for children aimed at nurturing creative thinking, innovation, leadership and team building through design education and art. Team members: Chastity Farrell, Miroslava Rybanska, and Maria Sulikova
View notes from our live blogging of the NYC Next Idea Final Round Event on Wednesday, March 21, 2012. View the NYC Next Idea 2011-2012 video.
2010-2011 Competition
Winners
Two winning teams, Verifeyed from the Czech Technical University in Prague and ReFleX from the University of British Columbia in Canada were selected from a pool of applicants. Verifeyed provides a verification service for digital images which can indicate modification and ReFleX developed a multi-patient wireless monitoring solution for hospitals.
The Graduate Track
- Verifeyed from the Czech Technical University, Prague (Czech Republic): Provides a unique verification service for digital images, indicating whether or not the image has been modified, reliably and quickly
- FoodShrink from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (India): Building a mobile app to help New Yorkers make smarter dietary choices
- Indian Mephisto from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (India): Developing a mobility and orientation "artificial vision" system to help visually impaired persons navigate their surroundings
The Undergraduate Track
- ReFleX from the University of British Columbia (Canada): Developing a multi-patient wireless monitoring solution for hospitals to allow them to monitor patients more effectively and do away with excess sensor wires
- 151 Projects from the Singapore Management University (Singapore): Creating an internet platform for online shopping to give consumers information on the most relevant and interesting products through social media
- Sirocco from the EDHEC Business School (France): Building high-end full-body dryers for NYC sports clubs, spas, and hotels
Read the press release and profiles of the six finalist teams.
2009 - 2010 Competition
Winners
The winner of the NYC Next Idea 2009 - 2010 Competition was GreeNext Technology Solutions from IIT Madras in India. Mayor Bloomberg announced the winners at a press conference at Columbia University on January 7, 2010 and presented the team with a plaque and a check for $20,000. The GreeNext team was also awarded the option of up to 2 years free space at one of the City's business incubators.
Finalists
- GreeNext Technology Solutions from IIT Madras in India: They are a clean-technology company that is pioneering specialized software and hardware solutions to utility companies.Their product, XEstor, serves as a common interface to store energy from any source into large battery storage sites
- Biofont from the University of INSEAD in France: A biotechnology company that developed a ground-breaking product that can be used to screen individuals for infectious diseases in an expeditious and accurate manner.
- NYCycling from IESE in Spain: An innovative zero-emission bike-share program designed to transport users from one destination to the next within New York City.
