Congratulations Winter 2022 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.

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

Aqua-Cell Energy

The problem:

There is no energy storage technology that is well suited for the storage of renewable electricity, especially in cold climates. Solar energy production has been limited as a result; this especially effects commercial and industrial (C&I) scale solar energy projects.

Team:

Ellsworth Bell - Chemical Engineering

Keith Cleland - Chemical Engineering

Maesos Technologies

The problem:

Pests and diseases are decimating global agricultural crop yields as the current methods to monitor and treat these threats are insufficient

Team:

Brandon Chan, Mechatronics Engineering

Jack Paduchowski, Mechatronics Engineering

Kurtis Eisler, Mechatronics 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 Winter 2022 Quantum Valley Investments® Problem Pitch finalists.

Judges at this semester’s event included UWaterloo's own Oleg Stukalov, Business Development Manager, Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology, Ruma Sondhi, External Partnerships Lead, The Problem Lab, and Kyle St Jaques, Associate Manager Paid Search, Canadian Tire Corporation.

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.