Tufts Students Pitch Solutions to Pressing Problems at 2024 Ideas Competition

Ideas are the first step towards building a venture that has real impact on the world. Last Friday, ten finalist teams took their first steps towards impact by pitching their ideas for innovative solutions to the world’s most pressing problems at this year’s Ideas Competition, hosted by the Derby Entrepreneurship Center (DEC).

The Ideas Competition is a pitch contest for entrepreneurial Tufts students to choose a problem worth solving, come up with a great solution, and deliver a 3-minute venture pitch for a chance to win up to $1,000 per team in cash prizes. The Ideas Competition is often the launchpad for teams that will go on to compete in the Tufts New Ventures Competition or join the Tufts Venture Accelerator.

A panel of judges asked questions to discover more about teams’ venture ideas, provided invaluable feedback to teams, and ultimately voted on the night’s winners. Audience members also had a chance to ask questions directly to the teams during the judge deliberation period.

Learn more about this year’s winning teams:

1st Place: CeliAxe

CeliAxe helps people with celiac disease who don’t take advantage of their medical expense tax deduction by simplifying the process so that they will. For people with celiac, the only treatment is a gluten-free diet, but gluten-free foods can be five times more expensive than non gluten-free foods. In the U.S., you are able to claim the difference in price between gluten-free and non gluten-free foods as a medical tax deduction. However, this process is time consuming and prone to error, requiring you to save every grocery store receipt, look up the price of the non-gluten free counterparts, and manually record the difference in prices.

CeliAxe converts that entire process from a laborious manual one to a seamless and automated one. Once you upload a grocery receipt to CeliAxe, the app automatically determines the difference in price, stores the information, and will create a tax Form 1040 Schedule A for you. For anyone with celiac, especially those who are low-income, in college, or living paycheck to paycheck, the high price of gluten-free foods can be really difficult to afford and the tax deduction relief is difficult to manage. CeliAxe helps take that burden off of consumers.

2nd Place: Know.Period

Know.Period puts health in women's hands by giving them an intelligent sanitary napkin that finds early warnings of breast cancer in menstrual blood. Breast cancer is the deadliest cancer among women, but early diagnosis can save lives. The five-year survival rate of breast cancer is 100% when caught early versus 31% when diagnosed at stage 4. To assist with early detection, embedded in Know.Period pads is K-Strip, an intelligent collection strip that can detect and analyze the quantity of analytes in menstrual effluent to compute clinical grade readings for early warning signs of cancer.

Know.Period’s priority beyond product engineering is in consumer awareness. Each customer is an activist in a women’s health movement that affords breast health access to every menstruating woman. It meets her where she is – in a store she shops at, at the convenience of her home where she engages in hygiene, and on her app where she connects. The movement grows through choice, participation, and empowerment.

3rd Place: WAPOL

WAPOL helps the Indonesian people to accomplish its Golden Indonesia Vision 2045, reducing the greenhouse effect and optimizing for Sustainable Development Goals, particularly goal number 7: “Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all, by providing access to electricity for people in the rural area through MHPP.”

Indonesia sets a target to be a developed country called Golden Indonesia 2045, with the tagline “Sovereign, Advanced, and Sustainable Nation.” One of the major components of this vision is the demographic bonus, which will increase the availability of human resources. However, if this is not managed properly, it will lead to various demographic disasters, such as massive unemployment. Electricity distribution is one of the fundamental issues of development in Indonesia, and to address that issue WAPOL recognizes MHPP as a solution for providing electricity that is generated from renewable energy with an approach "from and for the community.” WAPOL plans to establish a MHPP in Muara Dua Village, South Sumatra Province, Sumatra Island, Indonesia.

Most Promising Undergraduate Team: Freebites

Freebites is a mobile app created by Tufts students to address food insecurity and reduce food waste on college campuses. The app allows students to share and find free food from events in real-time, ensuring no food goes to waste while helping students who may struggle to afford meals.

Freebites tackles two main problems: food insecurity among students and the significant amount of food waste generated from campus events. Many students experience financial strains and may not always have access to meals. At the same time, dining halls, and student organizations often discard perfectly good leftover food. Our primary customers are college students who face food insecurity or need convenient meal solutions, and student organizations looking to distribute excess food. Freebites will offer an accessible, efficient, and sustainable way to ensure that food gets to those who need it before it’s wasted.

Audience Favorite: SYNC

SYNC helps passionate long-distance runners achieve peak performance and prevent potential injuries by using real-time feedback and personalized coaching on running form using the latest SYNC technology. Millions of runners are struggling due to a lack of actionable insights, leading to unwarranted injuries and unmet goals. More than 52% of runners experience injuries due to poor form, whether it be immediately or over the long term. SYNC seeks to resolve this issue.

SYNC uses advanced sensors to deliver real-time biomechanical analysis, enabling runners to make form corrections that could help reduce injury risk while running. After each session, in-depth reports are provided to the users via an app to show them exactly where they need to improve for smart training of their personal best. SYNC has a convertible insole for mainly performance and recovery. Although other applications may provide the very basic metrics, SYNC offers personalized support for runners to unleash their full potential. SYNC aims to change how people run and make the sport safer and more enjoyable for millions.

Learn more about the Derby Entrepreneurship Center and Ideas Competition here.