Four Georgia Tech students who improved a medical device to protect patients and doctors won $5,000 Friday night during the ACC InVenture Prize, an annual undergraduate entrepreneurship competition.

The students invented the CauteryGuard, which adds a retractable tip to current electrocautery devices. Their design eliminates the risk of burns from the device’s exposed tip and prevents the chance of fires in operating rooms caused by an exposed tip coming into contact with flammable materials. The device won the People Choice Award, which went to the fans’ favorite invention.  

The ACC InVenture Prize awards $30,000 in prizes to undergraduate students whose innovations aim to solve world problems and make our lives easier.

A team of five students from University of Virginia won first place and $15,000. They started a biotech company, AgroSpheres, which gives farmers precise control over their harvesting schedule by degrading excess pesticides into a non-toxic derivative.

A team of four students from Virginia Tech finished second and earned $10,000. They created Kare Powder, a topical, advanced wound care dressing that allows for faster and more effective healing for chronic patients. 

Each of the 15 universities in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) selected a team of student entrepreneurs for the competition, which was held at Georgia Tech. 

The tournament is modeled after Georgia Tech’s InVenture Prize, which started in 2009.

CauteryGuard won this year’s InVenture Prize. The device’s inventors are: Jack Corelli, Hunter Hatcher, Devin Li and Dev Mandavia. They are all biomedical engineering majors.