'Coolest Night in Innovation' is April 8

Innovation, both nascent and thriving, will be featured at the Coolest Night in Innovation 5:30-7:30 p.m. April 8 at the Embassy Suites Hotel, 1040 P St.

The Nebraska Distinguished Entrepreneur Awards will be presented and a preview of innovative start-up businesses from across the globe will be featured.

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln Nebraska Center for Entrepreneurship will present the Nebraska Distinguished Entrepreneurs Awards to four enterprises:

* Tyler and Candi Wingate, Nannies International Inc. The Norfolk-based company created Nannies4Hire.com, a database that helps match families to potential nannies. Nannies4Hire.com is listed at one of America's fastest growing private companies by Inc magazine and has been featured on "Dr. Phil," "Supernanny" and the Discovery Channel.

* Sharon and Mike Schilling, Schilling Bridge Winery & Micro Brewery. Located in Pawnee City, Schilling Bridge Winery & Micro Brewery houses a production facility to produce 6,000 gallons of wine. Along with their microbrewery and tasting area, the Schillings have built a company committed to their community and family.

* Jim Terrano, Telcor Inc. Beginning as a company providing consulting services to hospitals, clinical laboratories and Point of Care device vendors, Telcor is a healthcare systems and solutions company that specializes in providing software products for point-of-care management, outreach compliance and clinical departments.

* Robert and William Scott, WRK Inc. A Lincoln real estate/creative investment catalyst founded by the twin brothers in early 2000, these UNL graduates own and manage many commercial buildings in eastern Nebraska and Colorado. They redeveloped several downtown properties, including the McKelvie Building and Color Court, and are in progress on the Assurity Headquarters and the Haymarket Redevelopment project, among others.

A spine implant, grid biomedical tape and a cure for post-traumatic stress syndrome are a few of the 20 business plan products that will be showcased at the 23rd annual New Ventures World Competition. From the University of British Columbia, Target Tape is an aid for medical imaging that contains semi-permanent ink and radiopaque materials in a ruler or grid pattern. The tape allows the surgeon to correlate information from an X-ray-based scan image to the patient. From Johns Hopkins University, Cortical Concepts is an implant to care for the aging spine. From Carnegie Mellon University, a team seeks to cure post-traumatic stress syndrome with high-tech products. Two UNL teams will be competing as well.

The event is open to the public, and the cost to attend is $10 (payable at the door), which includes a drink ticket. For more information, call 402-472-3353 or e-mail entprenshp@unlnotes.unl.edu.

WRITER: Marilyn Hoskins