MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, Mass. – An on-line service that will allow shoppers to track articles of clothing across numerous shopping websites and a tablet-based computer application that will allow seniors to communicate with their family members have earned top honors in Tufts University's eighth annual business plan competition. Prizes included $100,000 in cash and in-kind sponsor contributions.
The two projects were among 10 finalists in the competition. Five teams competed in the Classic Business Plan Competition and five competed in the Social Entrepreneurship Competition. Coordinated through the entrepreneurial leadership center at Tufts University's Gordon Institute, the business plan competition includes students from schools across the university and alumni.
PriceTrack, the top winner in the Classic Business Plan category, will track prices and automatically send an email alert when the price of an item drops or reaches a set target price. It will also provide merchandisers with data about consumer trends. Adrienne N. Dreyfus, a junior at Tufts who is a double major enrolled in the School of Engineering and School of Arts and Sciences, is developing the service. She received $15,000 in cash and $15,000 in in-kind services from Cummings Properties.
Keepin' Tabs, a startup designed for elderly users, was the top winner in the Social Entrepreneurship competition. Startup founders will develop an application to enable users to plan and manage their schedules, browse the internet and chat with family members. Hillary Sieber, a Tufts senior in the School of Arts & Sciences, won $10,000 in cash and $25,000 in in-kind services from Cummings.
Corporate sponsors for the competition include Allied Minds, The Capital Network (TCN),Constantine Ventures, Cummings Properties, Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corporation,Lowenstein Sandler Attorneys, Nutter, McClennen & Fish, Seltzer Design, and Skadden, Arps, Slate and Meagher & Flom.
For a complete listing of all of the winners in the 2012 competition go to: http://gordon.tufts.edu/entLeader/competition/index.asp
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Tufts University, located on three Massachusetts campuses in Boston, Medfors/Somerville, and Grafton, and in Talloires, France, is recognized among the premier research universities in the United States. Tufts enjoys a global reputation for academic excellence and for the preparation of students as leaders in a wide range of professions. A growing number of innovative teaching and research initiatives span all Tufts campuses, and collaboration among the faculty and students in the undergraduate, graduate and professional programs across the university's eight schools is widely encouraged.
