INNOVATION BENEFITTING THE ENVIRONMENT
On Saturday, October 23, the Green Innovation Challenge was held at John Abbott College, in collaboration with Collège Gérald-Godin and Vanier College.
Presented by Desjardins and inspired by the “Startup Weekend” concept, the day began with a welcome speech by Cégep Director General John Halpin, followed by a short speech by Jordan Baril-Furino, Fédération des Caisses Desjardins du Québec Administrator and Vice-President of the Caisse Desjardins de l’Ouest-de-l’Île. Participants were treated to a lecture by Olivier Demers Dubé, an entrepreneur and strategic advisor specializing in agrotechnologies and the implementation of integrated food systems. A series of workshops followed.
The day ended with presentations of student business projects. The first prize presented by Desjardins was awarded to the ReceiptMe team from John Abbott College for a mobile application that stores and organizes receipts, helping consumers and businesses track their spending digitally. Second place went to Vanier College’s Green Roofs team for the development of a green roof on one of the college’s buildings and in third place, a team from Cégep Gérald-Godin with the Cégep nourricier: îlots de biodiversité (Feeder CEGEP: islands of biodiversity) project.
“The creativity that the students have shown is incredible,” says Jordan Baril-Furino of Desjardins. “They demonstrated their great determination to find solutions focused on sustainable development, and the projects presented at the end of the day all had a lot of potential. Desjardins is proud to have partnered with this very successful first edition.”
“The students worked very hard all day to finally present their projects. The feedback they received from the judges is part of the learning process and we hope they will consider it and use it for the next steps in their projects.” Shannon Coulter-Low, Sandbox Innovation Centre at John Abbott College.
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Lison Desclos Manager Communications and Foundation lison.desclos@johnabbott.qc.ca
