NJIT Student Wins First Place in Newark Innovation Acceleration Challenge Competition

Mark Quiles '18, a finance and marketing major, won first place in the Newark Innovation Acceleration Challenge student competition sponsored by NJIT, Capital One and the Greater Newark Enterprises Corporation. Michael A. Ehrlich, associate professor of finance in NJIT's Martin Tuchman School of Management and co-director of the New Jersey Innovation Acceleration Center, emceed the event.
 
The competition, which has been running for nine years, features student innovators and members of the community who have potentially viable businesses; the two groups compete in separate tracks. The candidates’ applications were examined based on the business potential of their projects; then 10 students and 10 residents of the greater Newark area were selected to pitch to the judges.

The winners received a $3,000 stipend from Capital One to allow them to attend the NJIT Innovation Accelerator next summer, where they can get their businesses off the ground or figure out if they have a real shot at making their idea into a thriving enterprise.

Each of the winners were presented with Tommy Awards by John P. Keegan, the President of the Charles Edison Fund and Edison Innovation Foundation — honoring their achievements in innovation and entrepreneurship in the spirit of Thomas Alva Edison.