Drawing from colleges and universities across the country and throughout California, some of the brightest kids lucky enough to be part of the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA) will bring a dozen of the country’s most promising student start-ups to the Bay Area for the the 2012 Open Minds, a showcase of student innovation. Come see who they are and what they're making tomorrow, Thursday, March 22. Their stuff is astounding. In fact, here are a few of the teams competing tomorrow to make the world a groovier place:

• Stanford University’s Brilliance, whose innovation is a low-cost, low-maintenance device that uses LED bulbs to deliver phototherapy treatment to treat jaundice in infants in India.
• Two assistive technology wheelchair projects: the Leveraged Freedom Chair, a lever-powered mobility aid for use in developing countries that is made from bicycle components and designed to operate on rough terrain, developed by the Global Resource Innovation and Technology (GRIT), a 501(c)3 organization started at The Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and IntelliWheels, Inc., a team based at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana working on innovative after-market alterations to wheelchairs that make them easier to operate.
• The University of California, Berkeley, team NextDrop, which leverages the proliferation of mobile phone technology in India to provide rural households with information about the availability of piped water in their area, saving time and improving access to clean water.
• The Integrated Punch Biopsy Kit, conceived by a Johns Hopkins University team, which addresses the many problems and complications caused by conventional punch biopsies by decreasing the need for additional instrumentation, reducing the depth of the biopsy, and improving the quality of the sample.
• The Strong Arm, an elegant form-fitting vest-like lifting aid that makes heavy lifting easier and prevents repetitive stress by keeping the user in the optimal position, developed at Rochester Institute of Technology.

A $1,000 prize will be awarded to the winner live at the Hub event. You can meet some of the students, while sipping on free libations and amuse bouches, tomorrow at the Open Minds reception at The Hub (San Francisco Chronicle Building, 901 Mission Street, SF) from 7 - 9 pm. Please RSVP via Eventbrite, so they know how many of you are coming. It's for a great cause, and promises to be a great time. See you there!