For developing a novel biodegradable bone screw technology, Ihealth from China’s Tsinghua University won the Intel+UC Berkeley Technology Entrepreneurship Challenge (IBTEC) and was awarded $25,000 from the Intel Foundation.

IBTEC is a week-long event that supports and promotes entrepreneurship globally by bringing together University sponsored start-up companies from around the world to share ideas and of course compete for the top prize. Founded in 2005 by UC Berkeley and Intel as part of Intel’s Higher Education Program, the IBTEC program is designed to incite young entrepreneurs to develop innovative technologies that solve real world challenges, build viable business models, and move that technology out of university labs and into the market for a positive impact on society.

The event culminated on Thursday with the eight finalist teams presenting their business plans to a panel of venture capitalist judges. Finalist business plans involved biodegradable bone screws, a Web site security technique that incorporates interactive video advertising, a home appliance that quickly and easily makes the staple food of India, a solution to combat pesticide concerns in Chinese agriculture, and automatic diagnostic testing for TB, among other things.

In conjunction with this year’s competition, Intel and the UC Berkeley Lester Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation also hosted the first-ever Global Entrepreneurship Leadership Symposium (GELS), which trained expert mentors to support local entrepreneurs in their regions. Attendees included investors, university faculty, business executives, entrepreneurs and government leaders, who will each take what they learned back to their home countries to support entrepreneurism, innovation and economic development.

It was truly inspiring to see these young entrepreneurs present their solutions for very real global challenges this week. Read more about the program and the winners here.

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