Student entrepreneurs representing more than 30 colleges traveled to the University of Arizona campus April 17 and 18 to compete in the inaugural western regional finals of the Hult Prize, an international pitch competition that challenges students to develop innovative solutions aligned with one of the United Nations' 17 Sustainable Development Goals. The competition was hosted by the W.A. Franke Honors College.
AURA Insights, a health and wellness startup representing the University of Miami, won this year's west coast competition and secured a guaranteed spot in the competition's digital incubator phase. They will work with international mentors and resources in order to create proof-of-concept and market strategies ahead of international competition. The east coast finals will be held May 1 and 2 in Boston.
Representing the U of A was Ampira, a tech startup developing a low-cost hearing aid intended for low-resource communities around the world. The company was founded by sophomores Kian Sadat and Safiya Tarazi, both of whom are honors students. The firm combines each of their individual academic pursuits with a shared interest in health care: Sadat studies electrical and computer engineering in the College of Engineering, while Tarazi studies neuroscience and cognitive science in the College of Science.
Sadat and Tarazi competed in the preliminary round held on Friday and earned one of eight spots in the final round. Even though they did not win the west coast finals, they duo are still applying to participate in this summer's digital incubator.
"We are certainly not finished," Sadat said. " We are going to do everything we can to make this company real, and we have our sights set on a variety of other competitions and funding sources. If there is anything we learned from this weekend, it's that the scale of this problem is undeniable, the field is desperate for innovation, and the solution we propose has the potential to change the lives of millions of people – even here in the U.S."