BINGHAMTON, NY – Two Binghamton University students are heading to Albany to participate in the New York State Business Plan Competition and vie for a chance to win a share of a half-million dollars in start-up money.

Ohad BarSimanTov and Tyler Bender, and their respective teams, competed against 29 other teams from Binghamton, Cornell University, Ithaca College and SUNY Broome last weekend in the regional business plan competition held at Binghamton University’s Innovative Technologies Complex.

Winners from the regional competition won a share of $15,000 in prizes and awards and also earned the right to compete in the statewide competition to be held later this month in Albany.

At the statewide competition, the students’ products and business plans will be judged by a panel of venture capitalists, angel fund investors, investment bankers, public/private investors and seasoned entrepreneurs.

BarSimanTov ’07, MA’09, is currently pursuing his PhD in electrical engineering at Binghamton and presented his business plan for Infrasonic, a portable, non-invasive, continuous cardiac output monitoring device for sports, wellness and medical markets, at the regional competition.

Bender, a bioengineering student at Binghamton, demonstrated his business plan for Retware, an inexpensive diabetic retinopathy diagnostics system that can be used anywhere in the world without a physician present to conduct the test.

"We’re proud of all of the participants from Binghamton University but are especially excited about Tyler and Ohad’s success at the regional competition," said Per Stromhaug, executive director of Binghamton’s Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovative Partnerships. "Their products and business plans are impressive and this is a real opportunity for them to gain the financial support they need to bridge that gap between our campus and the commercial market."

Bender and BarSimanTov and their teams will be joined by eight other teams from this region at the statewide competition. The statewide event will be held at the SUNY College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE) on April 25. Nearly 100 teams are expected to compete.