The 2024 Ingenium Innovation Challenge
May 3, 2024 — May 5, 2024
| Location: | Digital Innovation Lab within the Ingenium Centre, in Ottawa, ON. |
| Cost: | Free |
Are you passionate about tackling hard problems? Looking for ways to do your part in creating a better future?
The theme: Clean water and sanitation
Currently over half the world’s population does not have access to safe sanitation facilities, causing unnecessary disease and death. In Canada, over 28 First Nations communities do not have access to clean, treated water. Ensuring sustainable management of water and sanitation services is critical and requires meaningful action, unconventional thinking and bold courage.
That’s why we invite you to take part in Ingenium’s Innovation Challenge in May 2024!
The challenge
Ingenium’s 2024 Innovation Challenge will be bringing together young adults early in their career aged 18-35 to build a digital prototype to help inspire positive solutions to mitigate the disparities many face around clean water and sanitation – in Canada, and globally. The product should be designed to enable young Canadians aged 9-12 (grades 4-7) to better understand how their actions affect wastewater systems, and help them find ways to contribute to sustainable water and sanitation habits, leading to positive action.
Participants are invited to compete in teams to raise awareness about the topic of clean water and sanitation, but more importantly, to inspire action that leads to meaningful change. How will you do this? By developing a digital prototype over a period of 72 hours. Over the course of the weekend, teams will draw inspiration from the Ingenium collection, workshops led by experts, and one-on-one guidance from industry professionals.
The prize
The winning team will be awarded a financial prize in addition to a grant, in-kind funding, and mentorship guidance for the development of their proof-of-concept prototype into a marketable product for use by the general public.
Timeline
Late February, 2024: Application Opens
April 5, 2024: Deadline to Apply
May 3, 2024: Innovation Challenge kicks off
May 4, 2024: Innovation Challenge continues
May 5, 2024: Final day of Innovation Challenge: Pitches and award ceremony
June 2024 – March 2025: Product development: Winning team works with experts from Ingenium and its partners to further develop their proof-of-concept prototype into a marketable product for the general public.
Application
Participants must self-organize into teams of three to five and the Team Lead must apply on behalf of their team by 11:59pm April 22, 2024.
Diversity and inclusion
Ingenium strongly believes that inclusivity requires social and cultural diversity. This will be achieved by increasing equity group representation (including persons with disabilities, visible minorities, Indigenous peoples, those who represent gender diversity, and women) as part of all our initiatives. We encourage individuals who belong to one or more of the equity-deserving groups mentioned above to self-identify. This information will not be shared with other participants.