David Lowe Lights Up Idea State U

Apr 27, 2011

MU IOTA (Kentucky) — David Lowe, a senior SEAM (Scholars in Engineering and Management) student at the University of Kentucky, earned a first-place finish at this past weekend’s annual Idea State U – Kentucky Student Business Concept and Business Plan Competition.

Idea State U, sponsored by the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development, is a competition designed to spur entrepreneurial spirit and thinking in college students across the Commonwealth. The event was held at the Lexington Center in downtown Lexington.

Lowe, from Louisville, came up with the concept of WebNoise, which captured top honors in the undergraduate concept track, earning $2,329 in award money.

WebNoise is a dynamic customer listening and service-recovery tool designed for small to medium sized businesses who want to “hear” the unfiltered conversation customers are posting online about their product or service experiences. WebNoise accomplishes this by monitoring and capturing comments posted in public forums, blogs and social networks.

The SEAM program is administered jointly by UK’s Gatton College of Business and Economics and the UK College of Engineering.

Another UK student entry, “M&A Classic Cars,” did not place in the undergraduate business plan competition. However, according to Gatton Marketing Lecturer Holly Hapke, “The forward thinking, energy, and passion this team demonstrated is extraordinary.” Joint entrants Jake Metz, a marketing major from Louisville, and Chris Allen, a decision sciences and information systems manager from Louisville, both are seniors in the Gatton College.

UK faculty member Bruce Walcott, associate dean for economic development and innovations management in the College of Engineering, was selected to receive a second-place award for advising at the statewide competition.

“All of our teams benfitted tremendously from the rigor of the competition,” said Hapke. “This was a tremendous opportunity for the students to test and refine their concepts and plans in light of the feedback and support provided.”

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