Three minutes, one big idea: Hennepin County enters the Shark Tank

It was a match made in Minnesota. Hennepin County had big ideas and puzzling problems. The University of Minnesota had experts with answers. On Friday, they met. More than 300 people crowded into the McNamara Alumni Center for some public service matchmaking. “Think of this kind of like ‘Shark Tank’-meets-dating app,” said actor and master of ceremonies Sasha Andreev , name-checking the ABC show that gives aspiring entrepreneurs a chance to pitch their ideas to a panel of wealthy investors. Advertisement It was Pitchfest , a national effort to connect local governments with the resources of major research universities. “You guys are the sharks in this case,” Andreev told the university faculty, students and researchers in the room. “Like a dating app, if you swipe right and express interest, you have the chance to connect and collaborate and build a beautiful relationship.” County officials had three minutes to make their pitches . One by one, they stepped up to the mic. Hennepin Health’s chief medical officer, pediatrician Krishnan Subrahmanian, was looking for an epidemiologist. The county had an extensive database of housing code violations: negligent landlords, leaky roofs, broken furnaces, black mold, rodent infestations. He and pediatrician/researcher Curtis Nordgaard wanted to link that data to the respiratory health of neighborhoods.