Listed below are the finalists in the 2023 PA Wilds BIG IDEA Contest:
Allegheny Mountain Beard Products (William Jones and Loretta Jones), located in Warren County, created all-natural personal care products that are free from harmful chemicals, synthetic ingredients, and toxins. They offer a range of products that include beard grooming, shampoos, skin creams, deodorant, and baby products. These products prioritize natural ingredients and sustainable packaging.
Arianne Iorfido, located in Elk County, developed a window blind specifically for inpatient psychiatric and other patient care environments with high-risk patients. Standard window treatments in a psychiatric setting require curtain tracks and curtains, which presents safety concerns for patients. This window blind allows healthcare facilities to retrofit any window, easily remove them as needed to accommodate high-risk patients, and can be easily wiped down in between patients.
Caregiver’s Artbox (Julie Mader), located in McKean County, is a subscription-based service that supports individuals working in a home-care setting, or other health professionals within care communities to help spread joy, a sense of purpose, and a feeling of well-being to seniors. The Caregiver’s Artbox delivers engaging art lessons for physical and cognitive abilities, using quality supplies and helpful video instructions designed by experienced artists in health.
CiviLink (Ben Kafferlin and Lisa Hagberg), located in Warren County, offers a unique, first-of-its-kind software package that streamlines procedures, maintains legal compliance, and enhances operational efficiency for government entities and public-sector employees on an intuitive, customizable platform.
Hoffman Appalachian (Joshua Brock), located in Elk County, is a small hops farm producing both fresh and processed hops and grains for breweries and micro-breweries in the PA Wilds region.
TAT Technologies (Harb Nayar and Kyle Pond), located in Elk County, created a tabletop “oven” that uses heat, humidity, and high velocity, turbulent airflow to disinfect, decontaminate, or sterilize masks, plastic tools like syringes, and stainless-steel tools used in normal medical, dental, and operational practices.
White Cane Coffee, (Robert Willman) located in Warren County is bringing sustainability and more economical manufacturing to a multi-use pod-based hot drink brewing system. Created as a PA Wilds regional product – White Cane Coffee’s reusable bag just needs hot water for a quick on-the-go cup; perfect for busy people and those who are conscientiously reducing their ecological footprint!
Wright Monumental Works (Kelly Platko), Located in McKean County, will install a Model J Automatic Sandblaster, on their present manual sandblasting booth that will allow for the constant motion of automatic sandblasting versus manual sandblasting by an operator. This creates a more consistent sandblast, which provides better performance on the final product.