The Social Impact Showcase celebrates the amazing work that GreenHouse students have accomplished throughout their social innovation journeys. This term, each of the six student teams that pitched were awarded funding to support their ventures from the Social Impact Fund, established by St. Paul’s University College.
Students focused their ventures on air monitoring technology, medical miscommunications, climate-related emergency readiness, wellness, modernizing the landfill site assessment process, and disposing of 3D printing waste.
And the winners are…
Aura Air, awarded $1,000, provides real-time, hyperlocal, city-wide, air quality monitoring. Aura Air uses AI and machine learning to forecast the air quality in the future, pinpoint the sources of pollution, and predict the effects of new projects, installations, neighbourhoods, and roads. They will use their funding to engage with municipalities for further customer discovery. Aura Air is led by Thomas Storwick, Faculty of Engineering.
Zero Waste, awarded $1,000, is automating the manual landfill site selection process, which delays the construction process of landfills and causes a shortage of landfills. This results in increased greenhouse gas emissions and higher risks to health and infrastructure for neighbouring communities from landfills that have exceeded their capacity. They will use their funding to engage with municipalities for further customer discovery. Zero Waste is led by Gauri Sharma, Faculty of Engineering.
Climate Crisis Connect – RU Ready Program, awarded $1,500, is a program designed to prepare residents to be ready for climate-related emergencies through community building and hands-on learning. They will use their funding to conduct their first pilot. Climate Crisis Connect is led by Maham Dar, Faculty of Engineering.
MedInclude, awarded $2,500, translates complicated medical jargon into lay terminology for patients and caregivers. This helps reduce the potential for medical miscommunication that causes errors resulting in billions of dollars and thousands of lives lost yearly. This funding will be used to develop their first prototype. MedInclude is led by Seun Adetunji, Faculty of Engineering.
3Cycle, awarded $5,500, addresses the 3D printing waste problem by introducing an effortless circular supply chain for experienced hobbyists, libraries, and maker spaces. Their funding will be used to purchase bins and recycling equipment. 3Cycle is led by Jason Amri, Faculty of Mathematics.
ideserve, awarded $6,000, is a unique self-care and wellness subscription box for the modern-day woman, by a modern-day woman. They will use their funding to conduct focus groups and interviews with experts. In addition to the $6,000 funding, ideserve is also the recipient of $1,000 funding from the People’s Choice Award. ideserve is led by Mikhailla Matthias, Faculty of Engineering.
Congratulations to all the students who participated in the Spring 2022 Social Impact Showcase and thank you to over 500 community members who took the time to vote for their favourite venture. Here’s to our students’ continued success moving forward.