A team consisting of a CoC graduate student in computer science and two other Georgia Tech grad students took third place in the University of Oregon’s New Venture Championship April 12 and 13. Shwetak Patel (Ph.D. Computer Science) and his two teammates, Erich Stunteback (Ph.D. Electrical and Computer Engineering) and T.J. Patel (MBA College of Management) won $5,000 to invest in their business, ElectriSense.

Stunteback and Patel travelled to Portland to presented their business idea, a solution to indoor real-time asset tracking. The team said their solution leads to lower cost of ownership for such a tracking system, because it uses existing power lines within the building infrastructure, the venture keeps hardware costs low.

ElectriSense will initially focus on the healthcare industry but expects to expand eventually into other markets and even internationally. By 2011, the team said, the company will be operating profitably.

Twenty graduate teams from universities around the world, including Hong Kong and Australia, competed in the New Venture Championship. Teams presented their business plans to panels of judges in the Aequitas Capital Management Semifinal round. The top five teams moved on to the Intel Capital Final round, where they presented and answered challenging questions from the judges.

The University of Oregon’s TakeShape and Brigham Young University’s Klymit™ tied for first place and were named co-champions. Each won $30,000 each to invest in their businesses.

To see a press release about the event, click here.