Students from the Faculty of Applied Sciences shine at the Coast Capital Savings Venture Prize competition

February 22, 2017
Print

Many of the winning teams from last week’s Coast Capital Savings Venture Prize competition have one thing in common—they consist of current students or alumni from the Faculty of Applied Sciences.

Simon Fraser University has held this competition for the past six years and applications are open to students, faculty and staff across the university. This year, over $50,000 in prizes were awarded to teams that demonstrated entrepreneurial excellence in different categories.

The Best Overall Venture Prize (worth $30,000) was awarded to Orello Hearing Technologies, a company founded by students and alumni from the School of Mechatronic Systems Engineering and the Beedie School of Business. Orello's focus is to provide accessible and affordable solutions to those who are suffering from hearing loss. The team is currently developing an inexpensive hearing aid that can easily be customized to the user without requiring a specialist.

As current and former mechatronics students, Orello team members Eunice Kuatsjah, Abdurakhman Smazov, Chingiz Dzhakubaliev and Ali Warraich provide an example of how students from the Faculty of Applied Sciences are using their educational experiences to create novel solutions for everyday problems.

Other winning teams from the competition who also have a connection to the Faculty of Applied Sciences include:

  • Ophthalight (Scalable Patentable category) - provider of advanced mobile health tools that will allow an increase in the accuracy, speed, and profitability of eye exams
  • MyCosmos (Female-Founded Award) - application designed to help high school students and young adults manage their various emotions in an interactive way
  • NaviMe (Idea Prize) - online and mobile platform that disrupts the tourism industry as a direct connection between local guides and travellers seeking an authentic local experience
  • Smart Parks Canada (Idea Prize) - company that utilizes hardware and software tools to introduce intelligent monitoring and management for park facilities

Read more about the competition and winners in this story by SFU News.

 

Related stories: