UC-Berkeley team wins Intel-sponsored entrepreneur contest

EE Times ^ | 11/22/2005 | Dylan McGrath

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SAN FRANCISCO — A University of California-Berkeley team known as the Harmonic Devices has taken home the $25,000 grand prize in the Intel+UC Berkeley Technology Entrepreneurship Challenge, according to the university's Haas School of Business.

The team's work is based on technology created by Gianluca Piazza and Philip Stephanou at UC Berkeley's Sensor and Actuator Center. The team is planning to introduce what it claims is the world's first chip integrating RF filters for multiple bands, targeting wireless phones and mobile devices.

The technology promises to deliver new levels of miniaturization, longer battery life and lower cost, the university said.

The competition was sponsored by Intel Corp. and hosted by the Haas School of Business on Nov. 18. The competition was created to promote the commercialization of technology innovations that promise significant and positive impact on industry and society, the school said.

Ten finalists presented their technologies and business plans to judges from the venture capital firms Partech International, Newbury Ventures, BlueRun Ventures, Walden International and Intel Capital.

Two additional prizes of $7,500 were also awarded to two teams from Singapore National University.

Harmonic Devices —: which includes Piazza, Stephanou, UC Berkeley electrical engineering Ph.D. candidate Justin Black and 2005 UC Berkeley MBA graduate Kenneth Miler — won the University of San Francisco's International Business Plan Competition in March and the UC Berkeley Business Plan Competition in May.