A student from Conestoga was one of three winners of $1,000 as part of the iGNITION $1K Pitch Competition held recently at Conestoga. Gerald Reinink, a Management Studies student, pitched his idea for a new, high-end environmentally friendly type of flooring for the residential housing market.
January 9th, 52 teams competed to win one of three $1000 cash prizes in the iGNITION $1K Pitch Competition. Participants included community members and students from Conestoga Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning, McMaster University, University of Guelph, University of Waterloo, and Wilfrid Laurier University.
The iGNITION $1K Pitch Competition is a fast paced and exciting event that showcases the business ideas of individuals and teams in the community. However, iGNITION $1K is just one component and is a stepping stone to the larger LaunchPad $50K Venture Competition which will take place this May where teams will have the opportunity to compete for $50,000 in cash and in-kind services to start their businesses.
At the iGNITION $1K Pitch Competition Final, seven teams moved forward to final round to compete for the top honour.
The winners of the competition were:
Gerald Reinink, Hugger Reclaimed Flooring, Conestoga
Hugger Engineered Reclaimed Flooring combines history and modern technology to provide an environmentally friendly, truly premium product that will provide home owners the opportunity to raise the long-term value of their homes.
Niall Wingham, Word Bridge, U of Waterloo
WordBridge is a smart phone application that breaks down language barriers for tourists wishing to immerse themselves in new cultures. It provides text translation in over thirty languages and an innovative image translation technology that translates words directly from a photo taken on the phone's camera. Developed at the University of Waterloo's VeloCity mobile incubator and residence, WordBridge will be available on iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, and Windows Mobile devices.
Balinder Ahluwalia, Nalion Technologies, U of Waterloo
NALION Technologies is commercializing a breakthrough in Li-ion battery technology developed at the University of Waterloo. We are looking to work with battery manufacturers to create large Li-ion batteries in new applications. A potential market for this technology is the emerging hybrid-electric vehicle battery market.
The following teams also competed in the finals:
Christian Reina , Clearpath Robotics, University of Waterloo
Rukie Liyanage, EnduraPatch, University of Guelph
Jaymes Pawluk, H2O Buffalo Bonanza, University of Guelph
Luke Lockhart, Volunteerster, University of Waterloo
For additional information on the iGNITION $1K Pitch Competition or the LaunchPad $50K Venture Creation Competition, please contact:
Tabatha Dominguez
Program Director
LaunchPad $50K Venture Creation Competition
td@launchpad50k.ca
www.launchpad50k.ca