The 2018 Aquahacking challenge – Lake Ontario and beyond announces five finalistes teams

Toronto, ON, (Sunday June 9th, 2018) – Five teams have been selected as finalists of the 2018 AquaHacking Challenge Semi-finals. Over the last three months, some of the brightest young innovators from various universities across Quebec, Ontario and the US formed multidisciplinary teams to create innovative cleantech solutions to solve some of the issues facing the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River Watershed. These applications aim to sustain the health of Lake Ontario, its watershed and local communities. On June 9th, sixteen teams competed in the semi-final at RBC WaterPark Place in Toronto, where a jury of experts and key players in the water and technology industries selected the following five finalists:

• EGC Labs: Real-time data, real-time warnings, long term learning: EGC Labs can help governments identify patterns of sewage overflow and even the reasons behind them.
• E-nundation: Buying property near a body of water? You may want to check if the area has a history of flooding. From providing insurance quotes to forecasting flooding, E-Nundation is innovating the risk management space in water damage.
• M Power Software: M Power Software are bringing together the IoT and AI to predict and measure sewage overflow.
• SWIM: SWIM's solution presents robust and versatile decentralized sewage overflow detection with their drone-assisted infrared camera.
• Water Puris: There's already sophisticated technology to break down endocrine-disrupting chemicals. But in the home? Not necessarily. WaterPuris hacks your toilet bowl to degrade EDCs using a combo of hydrogen peroxide and UV light.

Each team will be awarded $2,000 in funding to refine their solution over the summer months, as well a two-day, all-expense paid expedition on Lake Ontario to engage with various stakeholders. Finally, teams will compete in the AquaHacking Challenge Finals on October 25th during Ontario’s Water Innovation Week, which will be held at the Design Exchange in Toronto. Teams will receive up to $25,000 in support to develop and market their solution. The AquaHacking Challenge would not be possible without the kind generosity of its major sponsors, namely the de Gaspé Beaubien Foundation, IBM Canada, the RBC Foundation, GHD, Keurig, Ovivo, Sanexen, Ontario Power Generation and numerous other partners.

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About the de Gaspé Beaubien Foundation and Aqua Forum Founded in 1990, the de Gaspé Beaubien Foundation is a family-run philanthropic organisation dedicated to water conservation and to supporting family businesses. The Foundation employs an approach known as entrepreneurial philanthropy in its aim to support individuals, families in business, and organisations in becoming responsible agents of positive and sustainable change within their communities. The de Gaspé Beaubien Foundation spearheaded Aqua Forum, which is now also supported by various partner organisations. Aqua Forum runs AquaHacking and is developing a new programme which will focus on positioning water-related issues as a health issue to raise public awareness and incite new action on water quality improvement efforts in North America.