2021 Finalists are forging ahead with the development of their solutions
Seven new water tech start-ups and initiatives evolved from idea to reality by the Finalist teams from the two editions of the AquaHacking Challenge that took place in 2021. It’s been about 4 months since the Western Canada and Mille Îles River AquaHacking Challenge Final events, and these teams have not skipped a beat in continuing with their solution development. Continue reading to learn what they are up to and what they have planned for 2022.
The SIP Project – Co-founders Elana Wood, Yosamin Esanullah, and Yamen Shehab are forging onwards with the development of their gravity-driven mobile backpack drinking water filter. They are currently part of the incubation program at Entrepreneurship@UBCO and are developing relationships with prominent international charities and relief organizations. Some main areas of development for The SIP Project in 2022 include intellectual property rights and marketing strategy.
Eledigm – The vision behind Eledigm continues to be developed by co-founders Andre Cox, Tarek Alkabbani, and Mikhail Ignatyev. The team is currently participating in the incubator program at Entrepreneurship@UBCO.
EcoWater – Recently rebranded to SuWAb Water Systems, members of this University of Saskatchewan-based team, Khaled Benis, Shahab Minaei, Mohsen Asadi have been busy since the Western Canada AquaHacking Challenge. They were recently accepted in 2022 Earth Tech Cohort and are working on preparing their Mitacs award application. They used their credits with Lavery Lawyers to complete a brand name search prior to incorporating their start-up.
O-Tech – Co-founders Yassine Ouasrda and Alae Benguit are part of the cohort of the clean tech entrepreneurial program at the Polytechnique Montreal since December 2021. O-Tech was featured in an INRS news article in October 2021.
Ecotime Solutions – Ecotime Solutions has been participating in the incubation program at Esplanade since spring 2021. The start-up is also part of the AquaEntrepreneur Montréal program, where they are exploring opportunities to deploy a pilot project for their Oasis technology in partnership with a municipality from the Greater Montreal region by spring 2022. Eddy Dureuil, co-founder of Ecotime Solutions, was selected among 25 winners out of 284 applications for the 4th edition of the Ethnocultural Diversity Entrepreneur Awards by Entreprendre Ici. Business development priorities for Ecotime Solutions in 2022 include the implementation of pilot projects to showcase their Oasis technology. Credits with Lavery Lawyers will be used to finalize their shareholder agreement and validate the availability of their brand name nationally and internationally.
ILOS – Co-founders of Ilos, Jean-Christophe Gosselin, Samuel Cante, and Maël Lahmar, are pursuing the development of their platforms and of their initiative. Their main objectives in the coming months will revolve around the legal and technical development process of water-based accommodations. In collaboration with the design company Fauve as well as the IMQ’s maritime innovation team, they will continue to design the floating homes to emulate the Ilos platforms. The members plan to incubate their idea at the Esplanade in the spring and aim to create a solidarity co-op to raise awareness about water issues by creating a unique experience on Quebec’s waterways. All that remains is to find partners for their co-op in order to deploy the Ilos platforms soon. One possibility remains to be seen with the organization Rendez-vous which will be launching Le Village des Écluses this summer. The credits from Lavery Lawyers will be used to register Ilos in the Quebec cooperative register. Additionally, they were featured in a news article by ÉTS in October 2021.
OverOneThousand – Co-founders Philippe Scalabrini and Ysael Lesage are embarking on a development plan to develop an app for use by Éco-Nature by May 2022. Staff from Éco-Nature will use the app this summer to record and analyze data in an effort to improve ecosystem health. OverOneThousand will be investing their seed funding into cloud storage services and to pay for their time to develop the app
It will be an exciting year of learning and development for these seven start-ups. To follow their progress, follow them on social media. Visit the AquaHacking Alumni webpage to find their contact information and to learn more about the Alumni community.