Announcing the winners for Collider Cup XIV!

The Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology (SCET) at UC Berkeley hosted Collider Cup XIV on May 6, 2024. The biannual competition showcased innovative student projects, from AI neurotech to cybersecurity, developed through SCET courses.

 

May 9, 2024

 

Collider Cup teams, faculty, staff, and judges posing on stage after the Collider Cup event
Collider Cup teams, faculty, staff, and judges posing on stage after the Collider Cup event

The Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology (SCET) at UC Berkeley hosted Collider Cup XIV on May 6, 2024. The biannual competition showcased innovative student projects, from AI neurotech to cybersecurity, developed through SCET courses.

Team Playvision posing with Collider Cup trophy
Team Playvision (Photo by Adam Lau/Berkeley Engineering)

1st place and At-Large Bid winner – Playvision

Using technology to expand the effectiveness of sports training, Playvision’s Cup-winning innovation uses computer vision to analyze and tag football sports plays, making the game analysis process more efficient for coaching staff to focus on other aspects of game preparation. With their technology, teams receive instant, detailed insights on plays, giving their technique a competitive edge. Playvision’s victory is all the more exciting because they were the At-Large Bid winner, securing the wildcard seat, which gave them the opportunity to present at Collider Cup.

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Sehej Bindra presenting SimpleCell (Photo by Adam Lau/Berkeley Engineering)

2nd place – SimpleCell

A major obstacle in the bioinformatics field is the time it takes to analyze an experiment. Not only are existing platforms like ChatGPT unintuitive due to their black-box format, they also fail 60% of the time. SimpleCell eliminates this burden through their conversational, natural-language system that enables LLMs to work with other platforms, fitting into bioinformatic workflows.

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Aqua AI presenting on stage (Photo by Adam Lau/Berkeley Engineering)

3rd place – Aqua AI

Aqua AI is a team made up of competitive Cal swimmers who understand that the sport requires finely tuned coaching for success. Their product uses AI to give targeted and insightful feedback using swim videos, to analyze everything from stroke count to tempo. Its specific technique feedback allows swimmers to see rapid improvement in their style, something their coaches are unable to do with the number of athletes they coach. The team is currently training their model using strokes from Cal’s top swim team to give them a competitive advantage with data from the world’s top swimmers.

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Natalia Shamoon presenting Cal Milk (Photo by Adam Lau/Berkeley Engineering)

Most Innovative and People’s Choice – Cal Milk

Aiming to design an effective plant-based food solution, Most Innovative and People’s Choice winner, Cal Milk, produces a vital milk protein called Lactoferrin through precision fermentation with microalgae – no cows required. This safe and efficient method of production has picked up traction at local cafes due to its cost-effectiveness.

Alumni Expo Winner – Optigenix

This year, SCET introduced the Alumni Expo, inviting any student who has taken an SCET course, and therefore are now SCET alumni, back to competitively pitch their solutions before the event. Participants voted Optigenix as the winning team.

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Jai Williams and Gabe Abbes from Optogenix (Photo by Adam Lau/Berkeley Engineering)

Optigenix

Optigenix was founded by two Cal athletes, Cal high jumper Jai Williams (Business Administration ’23) and cross country runner Gabe Abbes (Business Administration ’24), who realized they were taking the exact same supplements despite playing different sports and having different injuries. High-intensity sports make every athlete’s journey with health and injuries unique. Optigenix offers tailored analysis and health recommendations for future athletes, using blood and genetic testing to provide individualized supplement packages.

Collider Cup XIV presenters

While not every team can win the Collider Cup, these teams also presented innovative solutions that have the potential to solve big problems for consumers.

Dart

DeepSafe

AlkeLink

Re:Dish

Homemore

Collider Cup features one venture project from each of its courses every semester. While teams chosen for the Collider Cup were chosen for a reason and certainly are some of the most visionary, SCET courses produce over one hundred innovative projects every semester.

SCET Teaching Awards

At SCET, experiential and hands-on learning is the cornerstone, led by our team of seasoned instructors, who provide expert feedback to help students develop their ideas. In addition to faculty, SCET hires course assistants to run the classes and ensure student innovators have the best environment to learn. In addition to acknowledging our entire teaching staff, SCET gave special recognition to an instructor and course coordinator at Collider Cup XIII.

Best Instructor Award

This semester’s SCET Best Instructor Award went to Anne Cocquyt, instructor for the Changemaker course ENGIN 183 Deplastify the Planet: How to Master the Sustainable Transition.

Anne Cocquyt speaks onstage after receiving the Best Instructor Award.
Anne Cocquyt, winner of the SCET Best Instructor Award for Deplastify the Planet (Photo by Adam Lau/Berkeley Engineering).

“Twenty years ago I swore I would not step into the footsteps of my grandparents, parents, and both of my sisters, who are all teachers,” Cocquyt said. “And here I am today. I wanted to business and startups and now I have the chance to do both!”

Cocquyt thanked SCET for giving her the opportunity to hone teaching skills and the founders of Deplastify the Planet for honoring “such an important topic for our planet.”

Best Course Coordinator Award

This semester’s SCET Best Course Coordinator Award went to Kelly Chou, also from Deplastify the Planet.

Kelly Chou holds up a hand in celebration while walking to stage to accept her Best Course Coordinator Award.
Kelly Chou, winner of the Best Course Coordinator Award for Deplastify the Planet (Photo by Adam Lau/Berkeley Engineering).

“Kelly put students first always! I’ve never had a course coordinator take our feedback so seriously. Her slides and her teaching styles are always easy to follow – there [is] never information given where I didn’t think it was relevant to the course. I constantly feel heard by Kelly,” a student said.

Fall Course Preview

During the deliberation period, SCET took the opportunity to showcase its upcoming Fall 2024 course offerings, which are currently open for enrollment for Berkeley students:

Judges Jay Onda, Stacey King, and Sandy Diao sit in the front row enjoying ice cream. Stacey speaks into a microphone.
SCET Collider Cup XIV judges; from left to right: Jay Onda, Stacey King, Sandy Diao. (Photo by Adam Lau/Berkeley Engineering)

Judges & Host

A special acknowledgment to our esteemed judges Jay Onda from Marubeni Ventures Inc., Berkeley alumna Sandy Diao from Descript, and Stacey King from Cal Innovation Fund for their fantastic feedback to students at the event. 

Rachel Eizler gestures while presenting on the Collider Cup stage with trophies on a table in the background.
Rachel Eizner (pictured) and Benecia Jude Jose served as student emcees for the event (Photo by Adam Lau/Berkeley Engineering)

Also, we want to recognize our student emcees, Benecia Jude and Rachel Eizner, for their amazing work to keep the audience engaged and entertained! 

That’s a wrap! Cheers to everyone’s efforts on making Collider Cup XIV a wonderful success.

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