Yesterday, the winners of the annual Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition were announced after a two-day competition in downtown Detroit.
At stake was more than $1 million in cash prizes, plus awards of services, staffing, and software. Accelerate Michigan winners are companies to keep an eye on, as they’re usually considered among Michigan’s most promising startups to watch.
The $500,000 grand prize went to SkySpecs, an Ann Arbor-based company developing a sophisticated collision-avoidance system for drones, with applications in wind turbine, utility, and other infrastructure operation and maintenance activities.
CribSpot, the Ann Arbor startup that has built a better mousetrap for listing and procuring online student rental properties, took home the $100,000 second prize.
Other sponsored and sector-specific prizes of $25,000 each went to:
—Solartonic, an Ann-Arbor based company, which has developed solarlume, a connected, off-grid, solar-powered streetlamp.
—Ann Arbor’s Ornicept has developed Specteo, a tablet-based field surveying software and web-administration tool that allows technicians to file reports about inspections anywhere in the field, including wind farms, utility power lines, and gas pipelines.
—Inventev, located in Detroit, is developing the next generation of plug-in hybrid vehicle technology that incorporates exportable power, specifically in commercial trucks used on job sites.
—Ann Arbor’s Akervall Technologies is the maker of the Sisu mouthguard, which the company says is stronger and more comfortable than other mouthguards.
—FreeStride Therapeutics, also based in Ann Arbor, is developing therapies for the treatment of bone-related conditions.
—Beet Analytics, from Plymouth, is developing automation systems solutions to reduce unplanned machine downtime and affordably improve performance.
—Ann Arbor-based AlertWatch makes patient-monitoring software that uses aggregated data from monitors, lab results, and medical histories to keep an eye on a patient’s fluid levels, blood loss, vital signs, drug levels, and test results.
—TurtleCell, based in Ann Arbor, has developed headphone cases for iPhones that have the headphones embedded right in them.
— Novi-based SurClean is creating a laser coating removal systems for industrial markets.
