A team of Georgia Tech and Emory graduate students placed second in a challenge round of the Idea to Product Global Competition for their plan to commercialize technology from a Georgia Tech Materials Science laboratory.

In the competition, held October 31 - November 1 at the University of Texas-Austin, students presented their plans for moving early-stage technologies from the lab to the marketplace.

Students on the Georgia Tech/Emory team (named Syzygy Memory Plastics) are participants in the Technological Innovation: Generating Economic Results (TI:GER^®) program. A collaboration between Georgia Tech and Emory Law School, the program brings together PhD, MBA, and law students in the classroom and research lab to advance early-stage research into real business opportunities.

Students who win acceptance into the highly competitive TI:GER^® program are assembled into four-member teams, including one MBA and two law students who focus on the commercialization of a Georgia Tech PhD student's research over a two-year period.

The Syzygy Memory Plastics team includes Georgia Tech MBA student Brent Duncan; Walter Voit, a doctoral student in the Materials Science and Engineering program of Georgia Tech; Justin Helsby, a joint law/MBA student at Emory; and Rob MacKenna, another Emory law student.

The Syzygy Memory Plastics team is planning to market one-size-fits-all earpieces made from a proprietary flexible polymer that fits snugly into the ear canal to provide a comfortable custom-like fit for personal listening devices including MP3 earphones, cell phone hands-free devices, Bluetooth audio devices, earplugs, and hearing aids. This platform technology is based on a shape memory polymer which is an advanced smart material that self-adjusts to fit into complex shapes.

Syzygy Memory Plastics placed second in the Technology Entrepreneur Society Challenge Round of the competition. Earlier this year, they placed second in the 2008 Georgia Tech Business Plan Competition and they recently received a Phase I grant from Georgia Tech’s Venture Lab.