These 6 winning Penn mobile apps will be built by software companies

Penn is turning nearly a dozen of its faculty, staff and students into entrepreneurs.

At the school’s recent AppItUP mobile app challenge, ten teams, chosen as finalists out of nearly 200 submissions, pitched their mobile app ideas to five software development companies: Chariot Solutions in Fort Washington, Excellis Interactive in Chesterbrook, Pa., Valex Consulting in Horsham, Sempercon in Furlong, Pa. and Kanda Software from Massachusetts. Each software company chose one app they would prototype, except for Valex, which chose two.

Below, find the winners of the challenge, an effort of the school’s UPstart program that helps turn Penn academic research into private businesses. This list of winners comes from Penn’s Karina Sotnik, who ran the challenge.

• Beans (Valex Consulting): Like Pandora for coffee beans, this app suggests coffee you might like based on what you already like. [Sasha Hughes-Caley, Rahul Jindal: students at School of Design]
• Drug Verifier (Chariot Solutions): This app tells you if the medication you bought is genuine or counterfeit. [Titilayo Oshinaya: student at Wharton]
• Point-of-care app (no name yet) (Sempercon): This app uses 3D animations, videos and “clinical calculators” to help nurses and doctors make decisions when dealing with patients in post-cardiac arrest. [Marion Leary, Benjamin Abella, Audrey Blewer: staff and faculty at School of Medicine]
• Wish.list app (Excellis): This app lets users create a wishlist as they’re shopping by scanning barcodes. [Vikram Madan: student at Wharton]
• Anaphylaxis 911 (Kanda Software): This app calls 911 if a person goes into anaphylactic shock, as well as texts 911 pertinent information. [David Edwards, Rachel Edwards: staff at School of Medicine]
• Survive Under 5 (Valex Consulting): This app helps healthcare workers in rural clinics diagnose and treat patients with diarrhea, sepsis and pneumonia. [Peter Meaney, Vinay Nadkarni: faculty at School of Medicine]