Randall Family Big Idea Competition

Wednesday, December 9, 2020
Developed in a Pitt engineering classroom, the Canal Battery Guard mediates between your phone and charger to keep the battery working better for longer.

Tuesday, April 28, 2020
The teams in this year’s Randall Family Big Idea Competition couldn’t be stopped—competitors asked the organizers to go digital, and they obliged. See the winners.

Friday, May 31, 2019
Powered by Pitt innovation pathways, HiberSense is a smart heating and cooling system that collects data on temperature, humidity, occupancy and air-quality and “learns” using predictive analytics to anticipate the desired temperature room by room.

Wednesday, May 8, 2019
Created by a group of Pitt students, Inrstellar is a new dating app that emphasizes compatibility over looks. Pitt assistant professor of psychology Amanda Forest, who studies relationships and interpersonal communication, offers her thoughts.

Wednesday, December 12, 2018
This fall's competitions awarded more than $600,000 for faculty and student researchers. In addition, mentoring opportunities in the competitions offer researchers help in commercialization, which takes products from the lab into spaces like a doctor’s office or a factory.

Wednesday, April 4, 2018
At the 10th annual Randall Family Big Idea competition, 13 student teams were awarded a total of $100,000 for their inventions and innovations. A new Big Idea Center was also announced, set to open in the 2018-19 academic year.

Wednesday, April 5, 2017
Student-designed MediCase lands the grand prize among the array of innovations presented in the Randall Family Big Idea Contest.