McMaster students, alumni win big at annual tech startup competition

From left: Dawson Lucier, a recent alumnus with an Hons.BSc Kinesiology; Lianna Genovese, a student in the Integrated Biomedical Engineering & Health Sciences (iBioMed) program; William Douglas, a student in the Faculty of Health Sciences (Honours) program; and Andrew “Doren” Singh, a student in the Chemical Engineering program. Lucier, Genovese, Douglas and Singh are the grand prize winners of the sixth annual Forge Student Startup Competition, held virtually on March 30.

From left: Dawson Lucier, a recent alumnus with an Hons.BSc Kinesiology; Lianna Genovese, a student in the Integrated Biomedical Engineering & Health Sciences (iBioMed) program; William Douglas, a student in the Faculty of Health Sciences (Honours) program; and Andrew “Doren” Singh, a student in the Chemical Engineering program. Lucier, Genovese, Douglas and Singh are the grand prize winners of the sixth annual Forge Student Startup Competition, held virtually on March 30.


Using augmented reality headsets to deliver first aid training. An assistive device that improves mobility and quality of life for those living with accessibility issues. An app that promotes health and wellness habits among university students.

These are among the innovative ideas that took top honours at the sixth annual Forge Student Startup Competition, held virtually on March 30.

The competition, which awards up to $100,000 in grants and cash prizes, brought together 12 finalists – all current McMaster students or recent graduates – to pitch their early-stage startup, or tech-based business ideas to a panel of judges made up of entrepreneurs, investors and thought-leaders.

Grand prizes were awarded to four finalists, with the remaining eight competitors receiving $5000 to develop their business or idea.

All finalists and their teams will have the opportunity to take part in The Forge Summer Startup Academy – a four-month program beginning in May that provides access to training, resources and hands-on support from advisors.

“Synthesizing an idea into a coherent and engaging two-minute pitch is not an easy feat, especially amid so many changes going on around us globally,” says Gay Yuyitung, acting director of The Forge. “We are proud of what these finalists have accomplished with guidance from our mentors and we look forward to working with each of them over the summer.”

Sean Van Koughnett, McMaster’s associate vice-president (students and learning) and dean of students, says the competition, which is designed to showcase and support talented entrepreneurs within McMaster University – continues to gain momentum.

“This year we received the largest number of applications, with the strongest pool of applicants, representing every Faculty,” Van Koughnett says.

Grand prize winners include:  

  • First Place: ($15,000): Dawson Lucier, PULSE Lifesaving. Lucier a recent alumnus with an Hons.BSc Kinesiology, is a co-founder of PULSE Lifesaving and is developing remote lifesaving training enabled by augmented reality technology.
  • Second Place: ($11,000): Lianna Genovese, ImaginAble Solutions. Genovese, an undergraduate in the Integrated Biomedical Engineering & Health Sciences (iBioMed) program, and the founder, CEO and inventor of ImaginAble Solutions, specializing in creating assistive devices for people living with accessibility issues. Their product Guided Hands assists people with limited hand mobility to write, draw and use a computer or tablet.

    Read: Engineering student wins prestigious global innovation award

  • Third place: ($9,000): William Douglas, CheckUp! Douglas, an undergraduate of the Faculty of Health Sciences (Honours) program, is the Co-Founder of CheckUp! providing post-secondary institutions with custom mobile apps aimed at improving health and wellness habits of their student bodies.
  • Recipient of the Faculty of Engineering SummerTech Entrepreneur Fellowship: ($15,000): Andrew “Doren” Singh, Pharmasonica. Singh is in the Chemical Engineering program, Faculty of Engineering and is the founder and CEO at Pharmasonica, a unique medical device that utilizes ultrasound to trigger drug release.

$5000 prize winners include:

  • Andrew Leber, Faculty of Health Sciences, Co-Founder of Marrow
  • Yicheng “Arthur” Chen, Computational Science and Engineering, Founder and CEO of Hummer
  • Natthakit Junior Thiensirisak, Earth and Environmental Science, Founder of Lytec
  • Karan Sabharwal, Computer Engineering, Co-Founder of Remember2Love
  • Michael Jobity, Engineering Physics and Management, Co-Founder of 2unify
  • Rohan Barooah, Mechanical Engineering, Co-Founder of AIYogi
  • Sara Mustafa, Kinesiology, Co-Founder of TRAD
  • Shreyas Gangwani, Mechanical Engineering, Co-Founder and CEO of National Design League

The next Student Startup Competition will be held in Spring 2021 with applications opening in December 2020. Students are encouraged to reach out to The Forge to get a head start on developing their business ideas through the Startup School program, which runs every fall and winter semester.

Since 2015, over 130 companies have graduated from The Forge programs, raising over $30 million and selling products in over 50 countries. The Forge offers programs across all industry sectors to entrepreneurs pursuing scalable, technology-based companies.

 

 

 

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