Startup takes top prize in nanomaterials pitch event

A startup company with deep roots at Waterloo Engineering won the top prize in a pitch contest focused on the use of nanomaterials to create or improve commercial products.

AquaSensing, which designs battery-free water leak detection systems for healthcare and industrial applications, took home $10,000, plus a spot in a virtual incubator, in the Nanomaterials Virtual Pitch Contest staged by not-for-profit NanoOntario and CMC Microsystems, a not-for-profit managing Canada’s National Design Network®.

One of the first commercial products by AquaSensing is an extremely low-cost, battery-free water leak sensor for use in homes and condominium buildings.

The technology was developed by engineering professors George Shaker and Norman Zhou, and is being commercialized by a number of Waterloo mechanical and mechatronics engineering alumni and graduate students – Nathan Johnston, Nimesh Kotak, Ming Xiao, Connor Al-Joundi, Kushant Patel, Mohammad Rouhi, Kamalpreet Kaur and Simran Chathanat – as well as fourth-year engineering student Erin Roulston.