The 2022 BCIT Student Innovation Challenge winners were announced at the awards ceremony that took place on May 25, 2022 at the Burnaby campus.
This annual contest attracts students with bright ideas and provides guidance, encouragement, and funding from industry and faculty to support students in realizing their vision.
The 2022 challenge was fiercely competitive with 61 students from five schools, 11 different programs, 14 industry partners, and 11 faculty mentors competing for prizes.
“Every year, I was amazed at the quality of innovative projects the students submit,” says Dr. Kim Dotto, Dean, Applied Research. “The Student Innovation Challenge provides the incentive, but the innovation comes from connecting students’ bright ideas with faculty and industry to help make it a reality.”
*There was a tie for first place in the Applied Research category—two first place winners were announced, combining first and second prizes.
First place ($3,250)*
- Applied Research category—Denise Chew, Aeden McClain, Brittany Lo, Aidan Thomlinson, Victor Ly, Bhupinder Thind, Jessica Hong, Kyle Wu, Spencer Loren, Brian Card, Edgar Coime, Jordan Godau, Katherine Marie Olaguer, April Tsang, Giwoun Bae, and Nicholas Johnston, School Of Computing and Academic Studies for EMA YVR Water Monitoring—using IoT to monitor water quality at YVR, 24/7, in real-time.
- Applied Research category—Kieran Bako, Lucas Hall, Kristian Neilsen, and Matthew Peeters from the School of Energy for Searchlight Scanner—a GoPro camera and advanced AI-based image processing algorithm scan for lost hikers, in real-time.
First place ($5000)
- Entrepreneurship Category—Kariffe Phillips, Hussan Sarwar, and Harsimar Makkar from the School of Energy for Campus-Wide Computer Repair—helping to reduce the cost of computer repairs and servicing for students, faculty, and staff.
- Sustainability Category—Aleks Zawadzki, Eric Cheng, David Tang, and Mo Amirian from the School of Energy for Undersea Laboratory—a novel device built to investigate water conditions and marine life, with minimal environmental impact.
Second place ($1,500)
- Entrepreneurship category—Sara Wasim, Adam Siyala, Linda Nguyen, Jamie Samuel, and Matteo Miceli from the School of Computing and Academic Studies for Minerva—a one-of-a-kind text editor for developers that makes writing markdown easy.
- Sustainability category—Nicholas Tsang, Adam van der Goes, Joseph Yu, and Douglas Zheng, from the School of Energy for Energy Balance Measurement—to provide BCIT the tools for implementing energy-saving initiatives in air handling units across campus.
Third place ($500)
- Applied Research category—Jason Zhang, Joby Matwick, Gary Huang, and Yao Li from the School of Energy for Data Sock—a product that can be used by clinicians to help diagnose and treat diabetic foot ulcers.
- Entrepreneurship category—Matt Hardwick and Steven Palfrey from the School of Business and Media for Chickadee Invest—a web app for buying, trading, and selling fractional shares of commercial real estate.
- The Sustainability category—Anna Okorokov from the School of Business and Media for Burgess 21—a fashion line that utilizes fabrics (sustainably) made from cactus with existing clothing to create new products.
Check out photos from the 2022 Student Innovation Awards ceremony.
A huge thanks to our 2022 sponsors: JTS Consulting Inc., Futurpreneur, Odlum Brown, E.B. Horsman & Son, IT/IQ Tech Recruiters, Murray Latta Progressive Machine Inc., Westland Insurance, and EllisDon. Due to their combined support, $21,000 was awarded to these nine bright and talented BCIT student groups.
Thanks also to Donald Yen, a BCIT donor, for the Sustainability award this year.
A big thanks to our judges for the initial round: Brent Dunn, Cynthia Van Ginkel, Richard Haire, Naveen Jit, Jonathan Bassan, Joe Boyd, Carol Wenzel, and Judy Findlay, and to industry pitch round judges: Travis Stevenson, President and Founder, JTS Consulting Inc., Robin MacLaughan, Investment Advisor, Odlum Brown, and Daniel Murphy, Vice President, Preconstruction, EllisDon.
About The BCIT Student Innovation Challenge
The BCIT Student Innovation Challenge is an annual contest aimed at providing support, encouragement, and funding to BCIT students who have bright ideas. Since its founding, the Student Innovation Challenge has inspired an array of interesting and innovative student projects. The Challenge is managed by the Applied Research Liaison Office in collaboration with BCIT Schools, and BCITSA Entrepreneurship.