Dr. Joanne Scillitoe formed, and is now in the process of mentoring an interdisciplinary business plan team comprised of NYIT business and architecture students. The students will develop a business model to commercialize customizable lamps produced in an NYIT Architecture Design class taught by Professor Jason Van Nest, which were on display at the NYIT Gallery 61 – Illumination. This exhibit featured lamps that meet “three requirements, structure, overlap and panel sequence, to express architectural ideas; they were inspired by nature, Japanese animation characters, pop singers, a blackberry, a prism, and more.The materials used are illustration board and plastic sheets cut by laser to form intricate patterns” (“Gallery 61- Illumination” NYIT).

The team has entered to compete in e-Fest, a competition where undergraduates from around the country have the chance to compete for over $250,000 in grants and scholarships at a three-day celebration of undergraduate entrepreneurship in April. The team will also compete in the NYIT business plan competition. They hope to be eligible to compete in NYIT’s Long Island Regional Business Plan Competition and the New York State Business Plan Competition (the top teams from the NYIT competition get to compete in the regionals and the top teams from the regionals get to compete in the state competition). This completion “encourages students, working alone or in teams, to think ‘Shark Tank’ and develop their own Business Idea. Students will compete for funding. The NYS Business Plan Competition encourages students to think like entrepreneurs and provides them with an opportunity to develop their innovative designs into prospective businesses.”

A $2,500 development grant was secured from the Schulze Foundation to support this initiative.

Good luck to the team, which consists of business students, Runing Lao, Pingping Zhang, Shujing Luo, and architecture student, Laszlo Kovacs!

By Konstance Teleisha