An iPhone application that would provide a virtual tour guide for travelers took top honors Oct. 28 at the Cornell Entrepreneur Organization (CEO) Elevator Pitch Competition.

Di Wu '11, a computer science and economics major, thought of the iPhone app idea as he watched a Cornell tour guide try to speak loudly enough that everyone in the large group could hear.

"I thought you could combine a tour guide's knowledge with the power of the iPhone," Wu said. "The phone can figure out where you are and where you're headed and play the tour guide information for that area, then follow you around."

The application would be useful for colleges, museums, chambers of commerce and, of course, travel organizations and publishers like Frommer's and Lonely Planet. Wu's idea is to offer the application for free, with financing coming from restaurants, hotels and tourist destinations that would be featured on the tours.

For the elevator pitch competition, contestants had 60-90 seconds to sell their idea to a panel of three judges. The top prize was $100, with second place earning $50 and third prize $25.

Betty Wan '10 took second place with her idea for a consumer appliance that makes tea bags from loose tea.

Scott Purdy '10 and Pete Hunt '10 took third place with their idea to allow Internet content providers, such as news organizations, to make money by charging people who want to opt out of seeing ads.

Judges for the competition were Steven Gal '88, a visiting associate professor at the Johnson School; John Callister, a senior lecturer and the Harvey Kinzelberg Director of the Entrepreneurship in Engineering program in mechanical and aerospace engineering; and Armand Hershowitz '10, a former vice president of CEO, who has worked in a startup company.

This is the second year for the competition, which drew 25 applicants, said Josh Moskovitz '11, president of CEO, an organization for undergraduates interested in entrepreneurship.

"While we're glad to offer prizes, our focus is really to encourage students to take their ideas to the eLab and to enter the Big Idea Competition to turn their ideas into profitable business concepts," Moskovitz said.

The Student Agencies eLab, a business accelerator for undergraduates, helps student who have business ideas access help with accounting, law and financing; and also connects them with a network of successful Cornell alumni entrepreneurs. The eLab also offers physical office space for student startups. The Big Idea Competition, sponsored by Entrepreneurship@Cornell, offers students the chance to compete for $2,500 by entering either a social enterprise or business enterprise idea.

For more information on eLab, visit http://www.elabstartup.com and on the Big Idea Competition, see http://www.eship.cornell.edu/bigidea.php.

Kathy Hovis is a writer/editor for Entrepreneurship@Cornell.