Tanaka Team thrives at prestigious I2P Challenge

EMBA students Ben Blease and Andy Reid represented Tanaka at the Challenge held at the University of Texas at Austin

Prosthetics Direct Ltd., led by Tanaka EMBA students Ben Blease and Andy Reid, took part last weekend in the prestigious Idea to Product (I2P) International Challenge, at the University of Texas at Austin. They competed against stiff opposition from the world's top engineering schools including Stanford, MIT and IIT Mumbai, coming second to the team that eventually won first prize.

David Begg, Principal of Tanaka said, "I am delighted to congratulate Ben and Andy on their wonderful achievement. It is a testament to the spirit of entrepreneurship which we foster at Tanaka, as well as to the dedication of the staff at our Entrepreneurship Centre."

Prosthetics Direct clearly impressed both judges and participants with its mission - to offer those with missing limbs the opportunity to wear their prosthesis with pride.

Currently, most prostheses are made with inflexible and unattractive cosmetic covers that bear little visual relation to the body of the wearer. Ben and Andy have a patented technology that allows prosthetic cosmesis with individually-tailored skin tones and textures. The technology is also flexible to allow prosthetic joints (often highly expensive electronic devices) to move freely. In addition, in a highly confusing and fragmented market, Prosthetics Direct offers a one-stop shop for all prosthetic products.

It was clear that debate between the judges in the group round had been fierce, but University of Georgia won by a whisker, focusing on their promising technology (an arthritis-relieving drug delivery agent) and a large potential market..

Prosthetics Direct were also runners up in last year's Entrepreneur's Challenge and have been supported in all their endeavours by Tanaka'sEntrepreneurship Centre. Tanaka is ranked 1^st in Europe for Entrepreneurship and 4^th worldwide by the Financial Times 2004 MBA survey.