A University of California, Davis, graduate whose startup has patented a potentially life-saving device that prevents hospital-acquired infections won the top prize of $10,000 in this year’s UC Davis Big Bang! Business Competition.

Nevap Inc. founder Benjamin Wang has been working on the startup since 2011 when he graduated from medical school. He earned a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry and molecular biology from UC Davis in 2005.

Wang said Big Bang! helped him develop as an entrepreneur. The competition also taught him about the important role that business takes in linking innovation and commercialization.

“The Big Bang! competition gets you ready to hit the pavement,” Wang said.

A total of $28,000 in prize money was handed out Thursday night before a crowd of more than 120 attending the awards ceremony at the UC Davis Conference Center. A record 66 teams representing more than 200 aspiring entrepreneurs participated in the 14th annual competition, with five finalist teams selected to make their pitches at the ceremony.

The UC Davis Child Family Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship organizes and hosts the competition, which provides workshops, mentorship, financing and networking to accelerate commercialization and advance the startup process. The institute is a center at the UC Davis Graduate School of Management.

“The competition has helped many entrepreneurs make the critical connections that have transformed their ideas into reality,” said Cleveland Justis, executive director of the institute.

Nevap’s product improves on existing tracheal devices used in chronically intubated hospital patients. The company’s device will help prevent ventilator-associated pneumonia, which is a $12 billion-a-year problem in the United States, Wang said. 

Nevap, which is based in the Bay Area, has filed a utility patent for its third-generation functional prototype. The device will require approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Wang is seeking investors to manufacture the product.

The second prize of $5,000 was awarded to Ambercycle Inc., which was a finalist in last year’s competition. The startup is developing a system to degrade plastics so they are cheaper and easier to recycle. Engineered organisms are used to degrade plastics into high-value chemicals that not only are used to produce new plastic, but also help reduce waste and clean up the environment, said Ambercycle founder Akshay Sethi, a UC Davis junior majoring in biochemistry and molecular biology.

The team members are Sethi; Victor Awad, a junior majoring in chemical engineering; and Gerald Dion, a 2013 MBA alumnus from the Graduate School of Management.

After hearing pitches from the finalists, attendees selected Zasaka for the $2,500 People’s Choice Award.

Zasaka offers agricultural products and services targeted to farmers in sub-Saharan Africa, with the initial launch occurring in Zambia and Malawi. Its integrative solutions will support farmers through all growing seasons, increasing agricultural productivity and access to markets, said Zasaka co-founder Carl Jensen.

Jensen and team member Julia Shuck are graduate students in international agricultural development at UC Davis and participants in the institute’s Business Development Fellows program. The other team members are UC Davis MBA students Rashmi Ekka and Kellan Hays.

In addition to the top three prizes, another $10,500 was awarded to top concepts for promoting innovation and social change; agriculture, food and ag-tech related innovations; and the best all-undergraduate teams. The winners were:

• Big Ideas “Promoting Innovation and Social Change” Award of $5,000 to Adrastia Biotech, a biotechnology pharmaceutical startup that is developing a product that identifies a protein in an over-the-counter urine test for the early detection of breast cancer.
• Ag and Food Innovation Prize of $2,500 to Zasaka.
• An undergraduate award of $1,000 to Ambercycle for being the best undergraduate team that made it to the final presentations.
• Undergraduate awards of $1,000 each to Archer and GuardN for being the two best undergraduate teams in the competition’s business summary round. Archer is a software company creating a 3D gesture-controlled smart TV operating system, while GuardN delivers a smart sprinkler system.

For more about the competition: http://gsm.ucdavis.edu/big-bang-business-competition

About the UC Davis Child Family Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship

The UC Davis Child Family Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship serves as the nexus for entrepreneurship education and research — and as a springboard for entrepreneurial initiatives — on the UC Davis campus. The institute brings science, engineering and business students and faculty together with experienced entrepreneurs, investors and corporate leaders in a highly collaborative environment that blends effective theory with hands-on participation and solution-driven innovation. More info can be found at http://entrepreneurship.ucdavis.edu