Winning in Vegas

At CES 2018, students learned that successful innovation requires more than science and engineering

By Robert L. Smith

LAS VEGAS, Nevada—Case Western Reserve University sent 10 teams of innovators to CES 2018 in January, the most of any university. The students, staff and recent graduates set up their exhibits across from one another in the same row, creating a noticeable CWRU presence at the world’s largest consumer electronics show.

As journalists, competitors and potential investors descended on “Case Row,” the young innovators learned another side of innovation: How to win friends and influence people.

“It’s a bit of baptism by fire,” said interim Dean James McGuffin-Cawley, who was making his first visit to CES. “This is an overwhelming event.”

The famed trade show attracts more than 170,000 people and about 4,000 exhibitors from around the world. The dean credited Bob Sopko, director of the campus startup consultancy LaunchNet, with offering students just enough guidance to succeed or fail on their own.

“This is another example of how we create an opportunity for students and it’s up to them to use it,” he said. “Case is historically known for rigorous fundamentals, solving a problem. This is teaching them how to take that knowledge through to a commercial enterprise.”

With a trace of marvel in his voice, he added, “These kids are holding their own.”

In the Eureka Park exhibit area of the Sands Expo Center, a carpeted path led through a maze of startups to the teams from CWRU. Rounding a corner, attendees suddenly encountered a giant blackboard that declared “Brilliant is Beautiful” and that invited them to share their maker dreams.

In front of that message stood Xyla Foxlin, a senior mechanical and aerospace engineering major, ready to chat. She was marketing her new YouTube crusade—“Beauty and the Bolt”—in a booth designed to be both professional and fun. This was her third trip to CES, and she knew how to play the game.

Across from her milled the upbeat team of Reflexion Interactive Technologies, whose multimedia presentation reflected technical skill and confidence. Farther down Case Row, the teams tended to grow younger and the displays less ambitious, but everyone was learning something. That’s why they were here.

People who champion innovation at Case Western Reserve view CES as a place where aspiring entrepreneurs can grow up quickly, often with help from savvier classmates. Thrown into a sprawling convention, they experience a side of innovation far removed from science and engineering, as they vie to win attention and make connections.

Back for its fifth straight year, CWRU brought representatives of eight startups—including students and recent graduates—as well as representatives of LaunchNet and think[box], the university’s acclaimed innovation center.

The multiple teams created a camaraderie that’s needed, Foxlin can attest. “Your first CES is one of your most intimidating experiences in college,” she said.

Observers recall her as a bit timid three years ago, when she introduced Parihug, Wi-Fi enabled stuffed animals that convey hugs across long distances. This year, she stood poised and confident in an eye-catching corner booth, eager to explain the artful maker kits she designed for girls. She did dozens of media interviews and gave out hundreds of business cards.

Foxlin’s goal of attracting more women into maker spaces and engineering labs

Case Row attracted a steady stream of visitors in the University Innovation section of Eureka Park.

lends her pitch the fervor of a crusade. But she credits CES experience with helping her to gain confidence and shape an effective delivery.

“You learn things. You learn what works,” she said, gesturing toward her booth. “I have a theater tech background, and this is essentially a stage set.”

Plus, she’s learned to cool her emotions. “The more professional you are, the more people will take you seriously,” she said.

The university offers some support to the CES teams, but not as much as you might imagine. With the help of alumni, it covers the costs of the booths—$1,000 each—and provides signage and advice. But the students must get to Las Vegas on their own (some drive), find their own food and lodging, set up their exhibits and perfect their pitch.

“We’re innovators. We think beyond the possible,” said Sopko, who started the trek to CES with two teams in 2014. “We like to give students a chance to show their work—to partners, to investors, to the world. We buy the booth. We give them the keys. We let them show what they can do. What better place than one of the biggest trade shows on earth?”

There are stumbles. On the show’s first day, Jan. 9, the team from Reflexion was unable to get its multimedia display running, despite feverish efforts.

“That’s part of entrepreneurship,” Sopko said. “They’re trying to get it right for tomorrow.”

They did. On day two, a constant stream of people beat a path to the Edge—a concussion warning and reflex training system for athletes—garnering some convention acclaim. Reflexion was named a finalist in a Best of CES 2018 competition sponsored by the tech news website Engadget.

Matt Campagna, the company co-founder and a junior computer engineering major, likes CES for the media attention but also for the feedback.

“It’s like a giant focus group,” he said. “Just being able to show the technology and see how people use it, you learn a lot. You can make engineering decisions.”

After CES 2017, he and his two partners—high school friends who attend Cornell and Penn State universities—modified the touchscreen to make it more responsive, he said.

Farther down the row, Robert Steward manned a spartan exhibit for Enabled Robotics. A freshman majoring in biomedical engineering, he never imagined himself at the largest trade show in the tech world and was unsure how to prepare.

Still, he described the experience as eye-opening. People had been stopping by to hear about his idea for a pulley-enabled exoskeleton that would move paralyzed legs. (He 3-D printed sample joints at

LaunchNet director Bob Sopko, right, led the teams to CES 2018 for the fifth straight year. Dean James McGuffin-Cawley, left, was a frequent visitor to Case Row.

Reflexion Interactive Technologies, co-founded by Matt Campagna, was ranked among the Best of CES by Engadget.

think[box]. One group of visitors from Australia, noted their country had a large elderly population that maybe could benefit from the concept.

“It’s a slightly different application, not exactly what I was thinking of,” he said, acknowledging that the word “pivot” popped into his head.

Across from Steward, the team of Apollo Medical Devices welcomed visitors who lingered at the technical schematics describing a fast, inexpensive, portable blood-testing device.

“Today has been crazy,” said company founder Punkage Ahuja, who earned his master’s degree in biomedical engineering from CWRU and is now a doctoral candidate. He had had conversations with representatives of Bayer, CVS Health, Fitbit and an Israeli investment firm.

“This is the best show,” Ahuja added. “You don’t know who’s walking around here, and everyone is walking around here.”

That included Michele Jones, the director of product innovation for Akron-based FirstEnergy. She tried out the HoloLens glasses at NE Ohio Immersive Technologies and chatted with several of the students at their exhibits.

“I think it’s amazing,” she said. “You’ve got a lot of great things here.

Punkage Ahuja, founder of Apollo Medical Devices, talks with a representative of an Israeli investment firm.

We came down from upstairs just to see this.”

Chances are, CWRU will be back. Dean McGuffin-Cawley was a frequent presence on Case Row, where he was visited by deans and administrators from other universities. He said many asked him a version of the same question, “How did you do this?”

In an address to alumni at an evening reception at Planet Hollywood, the dean noted that CWRU had two dozen students and maybe twice as many alumni exhibiting at CES, swelling the university’s reputation as a center of innovation and discovery.

“I think that’s how we always wanted to be,” he said, “and we’re doing it better than we’ve ever done.”

Questions or comments on this story? Email Robert.Smith@casealum.org

Erica Kraus, the Student Operations Lead for think[box], helps set up Case Row. CWRU alumnus Adam Bartsch, the chief science officer at Prevent Biometrics, explains its concussion detection system to CAA executive director Steve Zinram in the Sands Expo Center, one floor above the CWRU teams.