A decade of winning ideas

Teams of engineering students competed for investments in their fourth-year design projects

By: Val Maloney
Faculty of Engineering

Twelve senior student teams from the Faculty of Engineering competed in this year’s Norman Esch Entrepreneurship Awards for Capstone Design, pitching their startup ideas to a panel of judges who distributed more than $110,000 in investment funding for the projects.

At the 10th edition of the competition held on March 28, 2024, the teams pitched revolutionary solutions to tackle big societal problems. With just three minutes per pitch, each team unveiled ideas that ranged from an app and sensors to increase braille accessibility to a device that connects to helicopters to reduce spin during rescue operations.

"It's a great way to get familiar with the process of acquiring funds for your project and pitching it to a broad audience," says Nube Torres, a fourth-year nanotechnology student from the GeneDetek team. "Funding was a big challenge during the development of our project but after the competition, my team's spirit was uplifted. On a personal level, this competition reminded me of the numerous resources available for young entrepreneurs at Waterloo."

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