The  Millard Chan ’99 Technology Challenge invites entries for business models based on a solid foundation of applied, solution-focused, technological innovation. Submissions for this track focus on product development, innovative design, and “builder” technologies including data analytics, biomedical solutions, software, or hardware. As always, cross-disciplinary teams are strongly encouraged. The challenge is open to all Columbia University students and recent alumni (five years or less from their most recent degree). Teams must have one Columbia Engineering founder member (recent alumni or student). Teams may only enter one challenge per year.

2024 Winners Announced

🥇First Place | InstaLabel: Novel customizable data-annotator to train any AI-model.
Ayman Talkani, 2023 M.S. Electrical and Electronics Engineering; Aadil Mehdi  Sanchawala, 2023 M.S. Computer Science

🥈Second Place | Dumpling AI (Goji Health): Automated, product-contextualized documentation for engineers. Jessica Shi, Sarah Gu, Manasi Soman, Theodore Chow; 2024 Columbia Engineering and Columbia College

🥉Third Place | Brekland: Climate resilience solution for farmers combating frost. Philip Brudnicki, 2022, PhD, Columbia University, Biomedical Engineering; Eric Bellefroid, 2018, PhD, Yale University, Geochemistry

🏅Engineering for Humanity Award | CIPER: Automating IV push to reduce administration errors. Sean Kim, Annabel Cho, Leonhard Heinrich; 2024 Columbia Engineering

2024 Finalists Announced

JotterWolf: AI Job Search Productivity tool.
Sunjana Ramana Chintala, 2022 MS in Electrical Engineering; Hari Prasad Renganathan, 2022 MS in Data Science, Columbia Engineering

newcase.ai: Medical malpractice AI case analysis for lawyers
Nader Karayanni, 2023 Columbia University; Priyanka Sundhar, 2021 NYU

OptiCardio: Transforming cardiac ablation into precision therapy
Haiqiu Yang, 2024, PhD Candidate in Electrical Engineering; Christine P. Hendon, Associate Professor in Electrical Engineering

Judges Announced

Mark Goldberger, MD, NYC Cardiologist
Lan Huang, Co-founder and CEO, BeyondSpring and Seed Therapeutics
Pete Slosberg, Founder, Pete’s Brewing Company
Nikos Theodosopoulos, BS’84, NY Angels Investor

Technology track awards sponsored by Millard Chan ’99

🥇 First place: $25,000

🥈 Second place: $15,000

🥉 Third place: $10,000

The Engineering for Humanity award is given to entrepreneurs that demonstrate a passion for creating impact through their business sponsored by Columbia Engineering

🏅 Prize pool of $10,000

Deadlines for 2025 

To be announced