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pennovation
Credit: Tiffany Pham

Alex Khorram, a former telecom financier who currently runs Comcast’s MachineQ Internet-of-Things Initiative, announced the Pennovation Challenge at a discussion panel at the Pennovation Center this Tuesday.

The MachineQ Initiative, started in October, aims to develop devices for home-entertainment and home-services devices in order to further expand Comcast’s Internet-of-Things Network.

The Pennovation Challenge seeks to promote this initiative at Penn, offering as first prize $3,000 and access to Pennovation Center machines and services for six months as well as help from Penn’s I-Corps business development program. The challenge calls for five to seven teams of Penn students and faculty to invent “innovative solutions for the Internet-of-Things on the MachineQ platform,” Philly.com reported.

He was joined by President Amy Gutmann, Penn Engineering Dean Vijay Kumar, Comcast Senior Executive Vice President Chairman Cohen, Gabriel Investments founder Richard Vague, Citizens Bank area president Daniel Fitzpatrick and several Penn scholars.

Philly.com also quoted President Gutmann strongly advocating for the intiative.

"When tinkerers and investors come together with artists and scientists and they roll up their sleeves and step off the beaten path," and "pool resources,” Gutmann said, “that's when things happen."

Dean Kumar further noted how the initiative opened a wide range of opportunities in research at Penn.

"It's about devices. About sensors. About getting that data and how the data connects people to each other and to networks... Today we're talking about connecting homes; tomorrow, connecting the world," said Kumar according to Philly.com.