The new Florida State University Innovation Hub was alive with the spirit of invention during the annual DIGITECH event April 11.
“DIGITECH is one example of the potential of what the Innovation Hub has to offer,” said Provost Sally McRorie. “Congratulations to all the DIGITECH exhibitors for the amazing innovations. You all have bright futures ahead of you.”
Students proudly displayed the fruits of their technological labors and crossed their fingers in hopes of their design being crowned a winner.
DIGITECH, a part of Florida State’s two-week Student Innovation Celebration, attracted students from a broad spectrum of majors from across campus.
A team of multidisciplinary innovators created and implemented a system that optimizes insulin pump technology for patients with Type 1 Diabetes called DiaTech. They wanted to help their friend and fellow student John Wilcox, who suffers from the disease. The device alerts the user if the pump is going to malfunction and won’t deliver the insulin injection needed to regulate their blood glucose level.
The creators are Wilcox, a senior biology major, Nicholas Cooper, a biomedical engineering master’s student and Luis Blanco, a senior chemical and biomedical engineering major, along with John Clark Gray, a 2017 graduate with a bachelor’s in chemical and biomedical engineering.
“We found out through John that there’s a lot of malfunctions at the injection site and currently no manufacturer has created something to address this problem,” Blanco said. “We want to solve this issue through innovation, and we aim to not only improve the quality of life for diabetics but also revolutionize the way diabetes is treated around the world.”
The DiaTech team won the $1000 Shark Tank competition prize, as well as the Best in Show: Contribution award at DIGITECH.
Some students tried their hand at the entrepreneurial side of innovation in the Shark Tank competition, sponsored by the Jim Moran School of Entrepreneurship.