$40,000 in prizes for Velocity Innovation Challenge winners

The 2017 Velocity Innovation Challenge was a huge success, with a total of 348 entries vying for the $40,000 prize pool.

Ninety-six judges were enlisted to select the best business ideas submitted by students and staff across the University of Auckland, and they said the high quality of entries made selection tricky.

The guest speaker for the evening was Amy Potter from HelloMissPotter. Amy is a creative entrepreneur who co-founded Leaping Tiger, an app for gamers to connect with each other.

It was a fantastic evening celebrating innovation and entrepreneurship and learning about some of the world-changing ideas that could become a reality.

The Velocity student committee hopes to see many of the ideas taken forward for the $100K Challenge later this year.

Prizes were awarded for the top ten social enterprise ideas and top ten commercial enterprise ideas, as well as five UniServices prizes, two agri-tech prizes and 12 faculty-specific prizes.

• MOSAIC: An e-commerce platform supporting ethical, local small businesses.
• Car-gers: An app and/or website which shows all public charging stations and allows users to communicate and see if a charging station is in use.
• Humanitarian Room: Connect university students to organisations in the international humanitarian industry while showing the opportunities and challenges in the humanitarian field.
• Aspire: Website with videos by best-practice teachers covering specific assessments for all major NCEA subjects. We aim to extend a support system to struggling students from low-deciles who cannot afford tutoring.
• Pupils With Vision: A not-for-profit organisation that supports children with poor eyesight from low-income families by collecting pairs of unused glasses and matching them with children who cannot otherwise afford quality eyewear.
• QueerCrowd: An app for the queer (LGBTQ+) community that provides a safe platform for community building, support and social forums.
• Conscious Layers: In saving good quality clothes from landfill, we propose a ‘Swap Bus,’ bringing otherwise discarded clothing items to those who would otherwise not visit an opportunity shop
• Renewed Fabric Rolls: Transform ‘no good’ opportunity shop donations into raw material/fabric rolls, making it easy for designers to create beautiful and unique upcycled products.
• Unbounded Environmental Consultancy: Unbounded Environmental Consultancy makes positive change across the globe. We help Kiwi farmers meet the strict environmental regulations while the profits help Nepalese farmers adapt to climate change.
• Accessible Rain Gardens: An accessible rain garden that could be used for educational purposes by students, staff, and the general public.

Riaka: A shoe collection that caters to the disabled community and the fashionably lazy. A pair of shoes that is fashionable and functional without compromising the wearer’s independence.

Blink Media: We aim to set up a platform that allows users to exchange skills for a limited time online, for weekends only.

Pepemixing: An audio-mixing technology that solves countless problems that are thought to be intrinsic to the nature of audio mixing. Licenced as software, plugins or hardware component, IP.

Respiratory Devices: To develop a low-cost, small form factor CPAP (Continuous positive airway pressure) that can auto-adjust to various pressure profiles for treating obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA).

Aceso: A cost-efficient, easy-to-use stereoscopic device that allows clinicians to measure wound size, automatically track wound size changes, monitor wound colour, classify the wound type, and identify suitable treatments.

Effortless: Effortless is a multi-STD test and feminine hygiene product that allows women to easily and quickly test for STDs regularly in the comfort of their homes.

EXOWATT: Leading contactless power transfer solutions for oil and gas (O&G) industrial applications using capacitive power transfer (CPT) technologies.

Entropy: Entropy is an artificially intelligent traffic management system that uses probability-based state estimation from existing sensors to control traffic lights and optimise real-time traffic flow.

WiSurr Audio Streaming: WiSurr is a peer-to-peer broadcasting application that affords effortless streaming of one smart device to any other smart device in the world, with a low latency and high quality.

endoCellMetrics: To develop a cloud-hosted, artificial-intelligence-assisted corneal endothelial cell image analysis and management service for eye banks and ophthalmologists to standardise best measurement practices internationally.

Diabetes Screening App: A mobile application that can be used to screen diabetic retinopathy, which is the leading cause of preventable blindness globally.

PotenC: To establish the infrastructure enabling future transitions to large-scale residential solar power use by removing the limitations caused by current installation methods through the introduction of contactless power transfer solutions.

STOP™ System for Smart Sewers: The STOP(TM) system is designed to overcome the shortcomings of the current sewer networks by providing insight and data profiling that were not possible with conventional methods.

Wind Catchers - Free Ventilation: Wind catchers will effectively impact tenancy services and reduce energy consumption rates by significant amounts.

Silk Eraser: Silk Eraser is a pesticide-free spray which prevents spider web formation on surfaces. The spray contains enzymes sourced from bacteria which degrade spider silk proteins.

Symbio biofertiliser: Symbio is a multi-nutrient biofertiliser that provides plants with essential nutrients through its unique dual bacterial formulation. It is a sustainable and efficient alternative to other types of fertiliser.

I PEST – Pest insect detection: Pest invasion is something we take seriously here in New Zealand. I-PEST provides a smart detection solution to quickly identify and detect pest fly invasions.

Arts

Super Holidays: Enterprise to match senior citizens seeking to travel with similar-minded older people and offer holiday packages designed around the needs and wants of older people.

Creative Arts and Industries

ThermallyMassive: A system for improving thermal comfort and energy efficiency of domestic spaces and buildings through light-touch intervention.

Chiasma

Myco-Safe: Myco-Safe aims to provide a sustainable, cost-competitive and naturally synthesised antimicrobial Styrofoam replacement grown by fungi. The product benefits industries looking for a cheap and sustainable antimicrobial packaging material solution.

CompSci App prize

Park Mate: Park Mate takes the trouble out of searching for parking. The app identifies the closest available car parks via sensors and allows users to pay directly from their mobile device.

Computer Science Department Prize

Swollmates: Swollmates provides a connecting platform for fitness enthusiasts – from bodybuilders to badminton players – enhancing the social and fun aspect of exercise and accelerating health goals in central training locations.

Education

Seeing Myanmar from Myanmar Eyes: This venture seeks to engage Myanmar youth in the design and conduct of free tours, which work on a tips-only basis, in the cities they call home.

Engineering

Novel Earthquake Resistant System: Light steel framed structures are an emerging market. Our earthquake-resistant baseplate allows these structures to withstand large earthquakes with no damage for a fraction of the cost of competing systems.

Medical and Health Science

EncapXulate Surgical: Using advanced materials to improve the clinical outcomes and user experience of post-operative skin closure.

Law

Smart Shelf: A shelf that allows automated stock take based on load sensors.

Property

VacantSEE: A pressure/load system concealed within a cushion form, placed on top of seats, that can detect spaces' occupancy or vacancy status.

Science

AntibiotiLight: Save lives, prevent overuse of antibiotics, and reduce the health-economic burden even in low-resourced environments. AntibiotiLight provides health practitioners with low-cost, portable, and rapid antibiotic use recommendations.

Whiua ki te Ao!

Māori Designed Caskets: The venture is designing, manufacturing, carving and distributing Māori-designed caskets for direct sale to the public and businesses.