Cancer-Detecting Bra, Student Loan-Busting App Among Inventions On Display At Kairos K50 Summit
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- An annual tech conference brought together some of the world's smartest and youngest inventors on Thursday.
From phone apps that save money on student loans to a bra that can detect breast cancer, it was all on display at the top of One World Trade Center.
Among the presenters was 18-year-old Neiman Matthew. He was the youngest person there, but designed arguably one of the most impressive items on display -- a whole new type of computer.
"Quantum computing would be the biggest innovation system since the internet," the founder of Hex Labs said. "It could essentially process any data exponentially faster than classic computation."
The Kairos K50 Summit has brought together 50 tech geniuses under one roof for the past five years. In this year's crowd you could find 19-year-old Julian Rios, who founded a company that's creating the first portable, non-invasive sports bra which detects breast cancer.
"We analyze temperatures inside the breast," the CEO of Higia Technologies said. "There's a correlation between having a hot spot and a possible tumor inside the mammary gland."
Rios says you only have to wear it for five minutes a week, and then you can get accurate results. He started the project three years ago, after his mother was diagnosed with breast cancer for the second time when he was just 16-years-old. The bra is only available in Mexico for $299, but he's working with the Food and Drug Administration to bring it to the United States.
"We feel like information like this and technology like this should be a human right," he said.
For the last three years, 28-year-old Tyler Shultz has been running Flux Biosciences, which has created a whole new method to weigh molecules.
"We use that to measure molecules in saliva, we use that to measure things like drugs, hormones, infectious diseases, cancers," he said.
Most of the companies are new, but they're already up and running. Others are still in the market for more investors, something they hope K50 will help them achieve.
"Really give the founders recognition they deserve and provide the capital they need and get them exposure and help take their companies to the next level," the event's Managing Director Kerem Ozmen said.
Many website developers are looking to expand, like the founders of "Quilt," a site which offers daily in-home gatherings for just women. They're trying to expand their service to New York City.
"Women may not feel super secure in spaces that are male dominated, spacers that have alcoholic beverages," Quilt City Expansion Manager Annaliese Godderz said.
29-year-old Zach Ehrlich founded "Stoop," a housing platform New Yorkers can use to rent a fully furnished bedroom for up to a year in 16 different neighborhoods.
"You can walk in with luggage, move in an Uber, that's the new move," he said. "You can move out the same way."
27-year-old Michael Bloch started "Pillar," a phone app that's already saving college graduates up to ten percent off their student loans.
"Pillar will automatically calculate the best way to be paying back with a payment program, what you should be on, if you should refinance your student loans," he said.
Andrew Forman started "Givz," an app which is a tech-forward way to give to a charity with just one tap.
"Basically you can donate to any charity you want in a matter of seconds," he said.
For more information on the yearly summit, CLICK HERE.
