Press Herald reports on Top Gun winners
The Portland Press Herald reported on the winners of the statewide Top Gun pitch-off. The event, hosted by the Maine Center for Entrepreneurial Development and the University of Maine, marked the graduation of the 2016 class of Top Gun entrepreneurs. Nobleboro resident and entrepreneur Chuck Benton of Team AR won the $120,000 in-kind prize from Microsoft for its app using augmented reality technology. The $10,000 cash prize winners were Nadir Yildirim and Simin Khosravani of Orono-based Revolution Research. The spin-off company of UMaine’s Advanced Structures and Composites Center uses technology to develop eco-friendly products for the construction and packaging industries made from locally supplied and bio-based materials. Yildirim is a graduate of UMaine’s innovation engineering program and a Ph.D. candidate in forest resources, and Khosravani is a part-time faculty member in the Department of Mathematics & Statistics. Top Gun is a program that combines mentoring with business development instruction, according to the article. Since its inception in 2009, it has graduated 135 entrepreneurs. The Free Press also reported on the Top Gun winners.