2019 Cade Prize Announces the Final Four Teams
Gainesville, FL (April 16, 2019) – The Cade Museum for Creativity & Invention today announced these Final Four Cade Prize Competition Finalists: Anchor Biologics (Gainesville, FL), Capacitech Energy (Orlando, FL), ExtremeComms Lab (Fort Lauderdale, FL), and Path Optical Systems, Inc. (Orlando, FL).
The Cade Prize, established in 2010, has become Florida’s pre-eminent invention and innovation competition. It rewards entrepreneurs, inventors, researchers, and pre-seed and early-stage companies with an original idea that has market potential. Richard Miles, Cade Co-Founder, said “This is our 10th year running the Prize, and it’s great to see how the competition has expanded. We had competitors from across the entire state, and from every major research university.”
The winner of the Cade Prize will be announced at the Cade’s Inventivity Bash on May 18th. The cash awards total $50,000, with a $25,000 First Place award, $15,000 Second Place award, and $10,000 Third Place award. The Fourth-Place team will receive in-kind services to support acceleration. Funding for the Cade Prize competition is generously provided by the Community Foundation of North Central Florida. Learn more and purchase Inventivity Bash tickets at CadeMuseum.org/CadePrize.
The Final Four were selected from 16 Semi-Finalists, which also included: Ator Labs, Inc. (Tallahassee, FL), Auxadyne (Gainesville, FL), Florida Insect Control Group, LLC (Gainesville, FL), HealthSnap (Miami, FL), Dr. Steven Kass (Tallahassee, FL), Locus Agriculture Solutions, LLC (Orlando, FL), Nano Discovery, Inc. (Orlando, FL), NiekAab Desal, LLS (Gainesville, FL), PQSecure Technologies (Fort Lauderdale, FL), SciKey Diagnostics (West Palm Beach, FL), Sea’s the Future, LLC (Jacksonville, FL), and Thor ORE (Orlando, FL).
Cultivating Invention & Innovation in Florida | Miles added: “The Cade Prize is a reflection of our commitment to innovation in the entire state. This year we’re especially excited to partner with the Florida Inventor’s Hall of Fame and Florida’s top research universities in recognizing and promoting the best new ideas in Florida.” The state of Florida is recognized as a leader in innovation and invention, and in 2017, the top two patent-producing Florida universities (USF & UF) produced 227 patents (more patents than the three NC Research Triangle universities, UNC, Duke, & NC State, with 189 patents combined.) From 2010 to 2015, three Florida institutions, the University of Florida, University of South Florida, and University of Central Florida, garnered 1,111 patents (each being in the top 20 U.S. schools.) Miles noted “The Prize directly benefits the Cade Museum’s educational goals. Virtually all of our Sweet 16 finalists end up teaching a class on their technologies to the general public and school groups at the Cade Museum.”
About The Cade | In 2004, Dr. James Robert Cade and his family established the Cade Museum Foundation to build the Cade Museum for Creativity & Invention in Gainesville, Florida. The Cade’s mission is to transform communities by inspiring and equipping future inventors, entrepreneurs, and visionaries. Dr. Cade, a physician at the University of Florida, was best known as the leader of a research team that invented Gatorade in 1965. The Cade Museum is open to the public and located at 811 South Main Street, Gainesville, FL 32601. An independent 501(c)(3) public foundation, the museum receives no operational funding from federal, state, or local governments, or the University of Florida. For more information, please visit www.CadeMuseum.org, or contact Sue Draddy at 203.247.2106, or Stephanie Bailes at 202.321.0773.
