October 22, 2026 | News,
UToday,
Alumni,
Business and Innovation,
EngineeringBy Kirk Baird
Five startups will take the stage at the annual Tech419 Pitch Competition, Northwest Ohio’s premier innovation and entrepreneurship showcase, on Thursday, Oct. 29.
Hosted by The University of Toledo Business Incubator, the event brings together entrepreneurs, investors, business leaders, researchers and community members to celebrate the region’s growing startup ecosystem and the innovators shaping its future.
The free, public event begins at 5:30 p.m. in the Nitschke Technology Commercialization Complex on Main Campus. Finalists will compete for more than $20,000 in funding and prizes.
“Tech419 gives founders an opportunity to put their ideas in front of the people who can help move them forward,” said Pamela Moore, director of incubation and business operations. “Whether that leads to a new customer relationship or an investor conversation, those connections can play an important role in a company’s growth. We’re proud to create a platform that helps innovators gain momentum while showcasing the strength of entrepreneurship in Northwest Ohio.”
This year’s competition features five ventures — including three with direct connections to UToledo — spanning healthcare, manufacturing, facility operations and space research:
- Altered Gravity — Dr. Eda Yildirim-Ayan, an associate professor in the Department of Bioengineering and co-founder. Her company’s platform recreates lunar, Martian, orbital and other partial-gravity environments in the lab, letting researchers study how gravity affects disease, drug efficacy and tissue regeneration without relying on costly, hard-to-repeat space launches.
- Echo — Michael Vanderpool, co-founder. Using QR code placards attached to equipment and fixtures, Echo lets anyone report a facility maintenance problem without downloading an app or creating an account, speeding up response times and generating useful operational data. The platform is being adapted for hospital environmental services teams.
- ILUminate — Nathan Meller, co-founder. Built for manufacturers, ILUminate replaces the spreadsheets and paper records most plants use to track operator skills with a live, auditable skills matrix that helps identify training gaps, maintain compliance and guide staffing decisions.
- Ossatura Labs — Yogesh Kumaran, an M.D./Ph.D. student and biomedical engineer at UToledo and co-founder. The company’s OssPlan platform uses diagnostic imaging to build a 3D biomechanical model of a patient’s fracture, then simulates fixation options so orthopaedic trauma surgeons can compare outcomes before entering the operating room.
- Surgiplate — Shawn Monteiro, a graduate student in bioengineering at UToledo. Surgiplate is a surgical fixation platform whose proprietary plate-and-strap design secures the hand and other joints during procedures and adapts across a broad range of orthopaedic and extremity surgeries.
The judging panel consists of Abel Castillo, venture program manager at JumpStart Inc.; Mikayla Coen, senior specialist embedded software engineer at L3Harris; Anthony Gillespie, director of strategic and technology-based partnerships and technology transfer at Parallax Advanced Research; Katherine Pollard, associate director of licensing for medical devices at the University of Michigan; and Joseph Scott, statewide manager of the Ohio APEX Accelerator in the Office of Small Business and Global Trade at the Ohio Department of Development.
All competitors are invited to join UToledo’s Business Incubator program, which nurtures innovation in Northwest Ohio by providing personalized mentorship, affordable office and lab space, and access to funding opportunities.
Seating is limited, and registration is required. Parking is free.
For more information about Tech419 and the UToledo Business Incubator, visit the Tech419 Competition website.
