The Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship and the Jones Graduate School of Business have announced the 42 student teams that will compete in the 2022 Rice Business Plan Competition, which returns to an in-person format on the Rice University campus in April.

Of the teams competing for more than $1 million in prizes and funding in this year's competition, six hail from Texas — two teams each from Rice University, University of Texas at Austin, and Texas A&M University. The student competitors represent 31 universities — including three from European universities. The 42 teams were narrowed down from over 400 applicants and divided into five categories: energy, cleantech and sustainability; life sciences and health care solutions; consumer products and services; hard tech; and digital enterprise.

This is the first in-person RBPC since 2019, and the university is ready to bring together the entrepreneurs and a community of over 250 judges, mentors, and investors to the competition.

“As we come out on the other side of a long and challenging two years, we're feeling a sense of renewal and energy as we look to the future and finding inspiration from the next generation of entrepreneurs who are building a better world,” says Catherine Santamaria, director of the RBPC, in a news release.

“This year's competition celebrates student founders with a strong sense of determination — founders who are ready to adapt, build and grow companies that can change the future,” she continues. “We hope their participation will provide guidance and inspiration for our community.”

According to a news release, this year's RBPC Qualifier Competition, which narrowed down Rice's student teams that will compete in the official competition, saw the largest number of applicants, judges, and participants in the competition’s history. The Rice Alliance awarded a total of $5,000 in cash prizes to the top three teams from the internal qualifier: EpiFresh, Green Room and Anvil Diagnostics. From those three, Rice teams EpiFresh and Green Room received invitations to compete in the 2022 RBPC..

The full list of student teams that will be competing April 7 to 9 this year include:

• Acorn Genetics from Northwestern University
• Advanced Optronics from Carnegie Mellon University
• Aethero Space from University of Missouri
• AImirr from University of Chicago
• AiroSolve from UCLA
• Algeon Materials from UC San Diego
• Anise Health from Harvard University
• Beyond Silicon from Arizona State University
• Bold Move Beverages from University of Texas at Austin
• Diamante from University of Verona
• EarthEn from Arizona State University
• Empower Sleep from University of Pennsylvania
• EpiFresh from Rice University
• EpiSLS from University of Michigan
• Green Room from Rice University
• Horizon Health Solutions from University of Arkansas
• Hoth Intelligence from Thomas Jefferson University
• INIA Biosciences from Boston University
• Invictus BCI from MIT
• Invitris from Technical University of Munich (TUM)
• KLAW Industries from Binghamton University
• LIDROTEC from RWTH Aachen
• Locus Lock from University of Texas at Austin
• LymphaSense from Johns Hopkins University
• Mallard Bay Outdoors from Louisiana State University
• Mantel from MIT
• Olera from Texas A&M University
• OpenCell AI from Weill Cornell Medicine
• OraFay from UCLA
• Pareto from Stanford University
• Photonect Interconnect Solutions from University of Rochester
• PLAKK from McGill University
• PneuTech from Johns Hopkins University
• Rola from UC San Diego
• RotorX from Georgia Tech
• SimulatED from Carnegie Mellon University
• SuChef from University of Pennsylvania
• Symetric Finance from Fairfield University
• Teale from Texas A&M University
• Team Real Talk from University at Buffalo
• TransCrypts from Harvard University
• Woobie from Brigham Young University