Assistive devices, cancer treatment, 3D printing win at CTNext Awards.

As Lucca Riccio summed up on Thursday night his vision for a Connecticut startup to give a better voice to hospital patients, he joked that he might use any prize from the CTNext contest to buy a car.

The Southington teen now has $12,000 to work with — but rest assured he is pedal to the metal in plowing the proceeds back into his idea for tiny microphones in breathing masks.

Lucca Ventures was one of four winners Thursday at CTNext’s latest installment of the ongoing Entrepreneur Innovation Awards, through which nearly 100 startup ideas have received financial boosts from the Connecticut Innovations subsidiary …read more