Will Isern

wisern@pnj.com

They may not have wooed the judges at Startup Weekend, but a team with an idea for an interactive science museum in Pensacola hasn't given up on making it a reality.

Dinosaur University was one of 11 business ideas developed and pitched on the weekend of Oct. 17-19 at Startup Weekend Pensacola at the University West Florida College of Business.

By the end of the weekend, three winners were chosen to receive logistical assistance and counseling on getting their ideas off the ground. The winners were an idea for an application to expand and simplify video recording of law enforcement officers, a "Survival Institute" to teach survival skills for real-world situations, and an application to source emergency car repairs from members of the public, similar to the way Uber has crowdsourced personal transportation.

One idea that didn't make the cut however, likely in part to a case of stage fright they say, was Dinosaur University. Dreamt up by husband and wife Amanda and Andre Kondrat'yev, Dinosaur University would be a hands-on science museum in the vein of the Exploreum in Mobile or the former Dinosaur Adventure Land on Old Palafox Road minus the creationism.

"We've got kind of a museum circuit in Pensacola big on promoting arts and history, but there's not really anything for science," team member Aaron Wilkins said. "There's the MESS Hall, and it's great, but the target audience there is very young. We would love to see that same kind of idea extended for older kids."

The team behind Dinosaur University, which had been six people at Startup Weekend but has now shrunk to four, initially looked at converting the shuttered Dinosaur Adventure Land on Old Palafox Road to be the site for their project, but since have moved on to look for a more viable option, potentially to include the recently closed Silver Screen Theatre.

Dinosaur University is little more than a website, dinou.co, right now, but team member Tom Moore said he'll be working this week to apply for 501(c)(3) nonprofit status and touch base with the Small Business Development Center at UWF. As for funding, Moore said the group hopes to solicit donations on their website and plans to apply for educational grants.

"We want to allow students to have an comprehensive learning approach with hands-on learning opportunities," Moore said. "We see this a place kids to learn real science about dinosaurs, paleontology, and evolution."