Winners of this year’s New Product Innovation Competition (NPIC) will receive up to $60,000 in cash and services to transform their new product ideas into commercial products. Over the next year, the six winners will receive the awards based on their product development plans.

The new product ideas were judged based their competitive advantage, boldness, persuasiveness, coherency, and environmental sustainability, as well as their ability to meet customer needs, among other things.

Freshman Award

Entrepreneurship and Global Business major Yamilet Gutierrez won the Suffolk University Freshman Award and is eligible to receive $4,000 in cash and $6,000 in services. Her product, called Screenswipe, combines mobile and reward card technology to improve movie theater sales.

Graduate Student Award

The Suffolk University Graduate Student Award went to Mike Niccoli. He is eligible to receive $9,000 in cash and $6,000 in services to develop Kwik-Drive, a three-in-one unit that combines a pen, highlighter, and flash drive. The wireless device will allow users to instantly store written or highlighted information on the flash drive. Each feature can also be used independently.

Niccoli came up with the idea while he was doing research for his Suffolk MBA program. “I thought about how convenient it would be to capture information in various text books and other resources without having to take notes or enter the information into a computer,” he said.

Alumni Award

Jason Rush (MBA 2011) and his brother Daniel Rush won the Suffolk University Alumni Award for megafone and are eligible to receive $9,000 in cash and $6,000 in services. Megafone is a smartphone application that uses live voice streaming technology to allow users to communicate with others. Since submitting their competition application in December 2011, they have added two additional co-founders: Nate Hudson (technology/development) and Dayton Schlosser (creative/design).

Urvashi Bhatia Green Product Award

The Urvashi Bhatia Green Product Innovation Award recognizes innovative, environmentally friendly, and sustainable product ideas. This year, Geert Kinthaert won up to $2,500 in cash and $7,500 in services for his new product idea: Shellfish Curtains. Made of industrial netting material, Shellfish Curtains serve as oyster beds in deep water.

Kinthaert, who is earning his MBA and Graduate Diploma in Accounting (GDPA) at Suffolk, sees the curtains as a way to increase the oyster population. He came up with the idea after observing landscapers roll out organic mats containing grass seed.

Bottom of the Pyramid (BOP) Award

Kenia Selamy won the Bottom of the Pyramid Award, which recognizes inexpensive and useful products designed to help people who live on roughly two dollars a day. Selamy is eligible to receive $2,000 in cash and $8,000 in services for a mobile water filtration system called Aquaclear. Her product combines existing compact water filtration and green sources of energy.

Selamy, who is earning her MBA at Suffolk with a concentration in Entrepreneurship, plans to market the product in rural and urban areas, where water filtration equipment is not feasible.

Selamy’s idea was inspired by her visit to Haiti, where many people did not have access to clean water.

The competition is part of the Center for Entrepreneurship at Suffolk University, which promotes passion, vision, knowledge, innovation, and leadership.

For more information or to apply for next year’s competition, visit www.suffolk.edu/newproduct.