Two Carmel students develop ‘Clean Line’ UTI detection tool
Win $25K in seed money at Innovate WithIN State Competition
Hamilton County Reporter - Last Thursday, June 15, the STARTedUP Foundation’s sixth annual Innovate WithIN State Competition took place at Butler University.
The 2023 Innovate WithIN state competition first place winner is Clean Line, made up of Nathan Dierckman and Makayla Phillips from Carmel High School.
Clean Line focuses on solving the issue of catheter infections. CAUTIs (catheter associated UTIs) affect almost 600,000 people per year and kill about 16,000. Clean Line is a screening tool to detect and treat symptoms before they arise. The product is a syringe-like structure filled with a chemical indicator which will attach to one of the lumens on a tri-lumen catheter that will change color if a UTI is detected.
Watch a short video explaining how it works by going to tinyurl.com/CleanLineVideo.
“Entrepreneurship at scale is a must have engine to any thriving economy,” Governor Eric Holcomb said. “Through competitions like Innovate WithIN, we’re equipping the next generation of Hoosier entrepreneurs by surrounding them with the support of government representatives, such as those at the Indiana Small Business Development Corporation, mentors and business leaders alike as they take an idea and convert it into a business.”
Clean Line will receive $25,000 in seed funding placed in a business bank account to continue growing their business, as well as $10,000 each towards a 529 education funding plan and the highest scholarship levels offered by nine university partners. These partners have offered a combined total of over $15.6 million in scholarships for all Indiana students who participated in the 2022/2023 Innovate WithIN pitch competition.
“We get students to see problems as opportunities,” said Don Wettrick, CEO of the STARTedUP Foundation. “With so many innovative and investable ideas, we want to continue to support Innovate WithIN students far beyond high school with our alumni program. Our team has invested in building our ecosystem of partners to identify amazing opportunities for our students. To continue growing the spirit of entrepreneurship, this summer we will be taking several Fellows and STARTedUP Alumni to Dallara in Italy for an in-depth entrepreneurial, immersion experience.”
Prior to competing at State, these students have spent the past six weeks participating in a deep-dive bootcamp to help refine and grow their business ideas as they met with well-known innovators. During the bootcamp, students also traveled to Indianapolis where they participated in an innovation challenge hosted by the Pacers Foundation and met with local mentors from organizations like Conexus, Elevate Ventures, TechPoint, Techserv, and more.
Finally, at the end of June, all finalists will travel to Washington, D.C., to meet and hear from successful entrepreneurs and government officials, participate in site tours and innovation challenges, and meet with government officials at the Capitol building.
Learn more at StartedUpFoundation.org.
