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Flying car and more pitched at El Pasoventure expoEntrepreneurial spirit, technologies on display at UTEPBy Vic Kolenc / El Paso Times (mailto:vkolenc@elpasotimes.com?subject=El Paso

Times: )

POSTED: 03/07/2014 12:00:00 AM MST

(/portlet/article/html/imageDisplay.jsp?contentItemRelationshipId=5779812)Luz Perez, right, and Alexandra Perez of MPI Machinery and Design show Cathy Sw ain, president of

The Hub of Human Innovation, products of their company during Thursday's Paso del Norte Venture

Competition and Expo at the Camino Real Hotel. (VICTOR CALZADA — EL PASO TIMES)

›› Photos: Paso del Norte Venture Competition and Expo

(http://photos.elpasotimes.com/2014/03/06/photos-paso-del-norte-venture-competition-and-

expo/#1)

A UTEP team's grand dream of producing a flying car, a father and son start-up selling apps to

track down lost or stolen phones, and Chihuahua students' simple vision of a desert shrimp farm

were part of the entrepreneurial spirit displayed Thursday at El Paso's second venture expo.

Other ventures included technologies to treat diseases and make paper-thin solar panels.

Nineteen start-up companies and 20 college teams were

represented at the expo in the Camino Real Hotel's

ballroom. It launched the sixth annual Paso del Norte

Venture Competition, which ends Saturday when

winners of the student and professional divisions are

picked at the University of Texas at El Paso.

The events were organized by The Hub of Human

Innovation, an El Paso high-tech incubator, UTEP, New

Mexico State University, and Monterrey Tech's campus in Juarez.

The expo, which included afternoon sessions where start-up companies made pitches to investors

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(/portlet/article/html/imageDisplay.jsp?

contentItemRelationshipId=5779813)Olga Puz de Ramos of the Ruskat Medical Group, right,

explains its Hospital in a Box to Kathleen O'Connor of the

UTEP School of Nursing. ( VICTOR CALZADA — EL PASO

TIMES)

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and judges, had the feel of a school science fair mixed with doses of TV's "Shark Tank."

"We were in the student competition last year and were told our idea would never go forward,"

said Leon Viveros, 32, a partner in 35 Solar, a startup based at New Mexico State University's

Arrowhead Center, a venture incubator where he also is a staff member. "But we were able to raise

money and make our first prototype" — a tiny solar panel, which he held in the palm of his hand.

Kramer Winningham, 35 Solar's chief executive

officer, said his company raised $15,201 on

Kickstart, a crowd-funding Web site, by giving

Hatch chile powder as a reward for making a

donation. The startup is aimed at using thin-film

technology to produce thin solar panels at low costs.

El Paso businessman Stephen Myers and his tech-

savvy son, Matt, 35, developed DataGNS, a

software application that can be placed on a cell

phone or other mobile device that tracks the device,

and can remotely erase all personal data in it if

needed. The app is on the Google Play store now.

Robert Cottingham, a partner in the Myers' start-

up, NewSource Electronic Solutions, and its acting

CEO, said their business model is to become the

"ADT of recovering phones." ADT is a giant home and business security company.

Leonardo Orea, 22, a mechanical engineering student at the University of Texas at El Paso, 18

months ago began working on his dream of producing a flying car. That idea turned into

Lilienthal, a UTEP team competing for the $10,000 first-place prize and a shot at going to a global

venture competition in Austin in May.

"People have been trying to come up with a flying car for over 100 years," and no one has been

successful, Orea said. One problem is the car usually looks more like an airplane than a car, he

said.

His design has winglets that retract while the car is on the ground, and it uses NASA-researched

aerodynamics to make the car easier to lift into the air with the help of an on-board compressor,

he said. Win or lose, Orea said his team hopes it can interest investors into giving them $20,000 to

do their "proof of concept" work.

Jeffrey Max Jones, a Mexican businessman, former Chihuahua senator, and a judge for the

professional division of the competition, said the expo and venture competition are part of the

innovation efforts needed to create companies that will create jobs needed in this area.

"More value is added in creating businesses" rather than just trying to attract businesses here, he

said.

Webb Johnson, a representative for the Verge Fund, an Albuquerque investment fund, said he was

impressed by the presentations at the expo. The fund is always looking for interesting ventures to

invest in, he said.

Jorge Garza-Ulloa, 61, who recently received his doctorate in electrical and computer engineering

at UTEP, hoped to convince investors at the expo to help fund further development of his software

to detect muscle fatigue. That can be used to make diabetes treatment more effective, he said. The

software came out of his doctoral research at UTEP.

For the Desert Shrimps team from Universidad Tecnologica de Chihuahua, their idea is to feed

some of the salty soil found in Jimenez, Chihuahua into special tanks to grow organic shrimp.

They estimate $50,000 is needed to start the venture.

Vic Kolenc may be reached at 915-546-6421.

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