Congratulations Spring 2021 Quantum Valley Investments® Problem Pitch Winners

This semester we saw a group of 6 amazing finalists deliver their deep understanding of important commercial problems affecting a number of industries.

The teams had 5-minutes to deliver their research on the commercial problem they identified, followed by 10-minutes of Q&A with a panel of judges. The judges selected winners that were best able to demonstrate they had the most thorough analysis of the problem. Two teams emerging as the top picks from the judges. Each of the two winners will now have access to $7,500 in R&D funding to finance the development of a solution to the problems they presented!

Congratulations to the winners and all the finalists in this semester’s Quantum Valley Investments® Problem Pitch competition.

Quantum Valley Investments® Problem Pitch winners

Authentik

The problem:

NFT companies do not have a highly reliable way of verifying the intellectual property in the NFTs they produce.

Team:
Samuel Orend - Software Engineering

Ishan Ghimire - Software Engineering

Miss Mechanic

The problem:

The mechanical and electrical complexity of modern vehicles leads to gaps of knowledge creating disparities in information between car owners and automotive repair service providers. This is leading to overselling and overcharging on vehicle repairs.

Team:
Stefanie Bruinsma- Masters of Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology, Engineering

All finalists presented important and well-researched problems. The Problem Lab commends each of the teams for the time and hard work they put in during the competition process. Please see the news post for the full list of Spring 2021 Quantum Valley Investments® Problem Pitch finalists.

Judges at this semester’s event included UWaterloo's own John Dick, Director of Concept, Jessica Creces McElhone, Vice President of Strategy & Data, Cineplex Digital Media, and Shane Kilpatrick, Founder of Membio Inc.

The Quantum Valley Investments® Problem Pitch Competition is made possible by $300,000 in funding from Mike Lazaridis and Doug Fregin, principals of Quantum Valley Investments® and founders of Blackberry.