Congratulations to the winners of the Quantum Valley Investments® Problem Pitch

This semester’s finalists demonstrated a deep understanding of important commercial problems affecting multiple industries - from the effects of lunar dust on space missions to sustainability in the e-commerce fashion industry.  

The teams had 5-minutes to record their pitch of the problem they identified. The winners were able to demonstrate that their chosen problems are of significant scale and they had the most thorough analysis of the problem. With multiple teams emerging as the top picks from the judges, we are excited to annouce three winning teams each walked away with $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

Billion Dollar Problems Stream

The problem:

As the climate warms, wildfires are evolving into unmanageable climate emergencies that destroy the land we live on and seek sustenance from.

Team:
Ethel Zlotnik, Arts
Kevin Cheng, Computer Science
Manal Khan. Engineering
Maria-Fernanda Torres Ceron, Applied Health Sciences

The problem:

Current masks used for personal protective equipment (PPE). in healthcare settings are too irritating, improperly sized and hot for all day usage.

Team:
Winnie Wu, Engineering
Amanda Jo, Engineering
Mustafa Syed, Engineering

Open Problems Stream

The problem:

Healthcare systems that support refugees and displaced people have not advanced in decades, making it nearly impossible to prevent and control disease outbreaks.

Team:
Dan Kim, Engineering
Danial Betres, Engineering
Jonathan Dhanapala, Engineering
Victoria Li, 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 list of Fall 2020 Quantum Valley Investments® Problem Pitch finalists.

Judges at this semester’s event included Dr. Barbara Fennessy, Vice President Applied Research at Conestoga College, Carl Spiess, Portfolio Manager and Director at ScotiaMcLeod, Janelle Chalouhi, Head of Business Development at Communitech, John Carbrey, CEO and Founder of FutureSight, Kyle Faller, Co-founder and CEO of Intelline, and Perry Everett, Co-founder and Head of Business Development at Arylla

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.