Monday, October 6, 2008

Kiosk maker Canditto wins Babson innovation contest

Canditto, a digital photo-processing company focused on events, has won the Babson College Innovation Competition, according to the school. The Babson spinout took $30,000 for its first-place finish.

Canditto’s patent-pending kiosk collects photos from an event and produces a CD collection by the end of the event. The startup was founded by Richard “Rush” Hambleton, a graduate student at Babson’s F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business.

Among the other finalists was Bluepak, a company whose product allows local pharmacies to package an individual’s prescription and non-prescription drugs into single, easy to use daily packs. Bluepak was founded by Geoffrey Reed and Eric Chesin, from the Columbia University Graduate School of Business.

Another finalist was Stanford University-based Logimed Inc., which makes a rapid suture device intended to close laparoscopic surgery incision wounds more quickly, safely and easily.  

The judges panel comprised Susan Keller of Edwards, Angell, Palmer & Dodge, Matt Downs of Sandbox Industries LLC, Will Robinson of Advanta Corp.’s Ideablob, Rhett Neuenschwander of Huntsman Gay Global Capital, and Frank Zenie of the Zenie Group.

In other recent news, Babson last month announced it was collaborating with EM Lyon Business School in France and Zhejiang University in China to offer a master of science in management degree with a concentration in global entrepreneurship.

Also in September, Babson named clean tech venture investor Mark T. Donohue “Clean Technology Entrepreneur-in-Residence” at the school. Donohue will help design and teach Babson’s clean technology, sustainability and social entrepreneurship programs. Babson’s clean tech and social entrepreneurship curriculum is being partly fueled by a recent $10.8 million gift to create the Lewis Institute.