Introduction
Centennial’s Centre of Entrepreneurship (COE) welcomed students, staff and faculty members, along with community partners and leaders, to participate in two activities focused on designing solutions in support of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). These activities are part of the Centre of Entrepreneurship – SDG Innovation Lab’s annual programming along with Workshops and Speaker Series, Rapid Start and Incubation Experience Programs, as well as Business Innovation and Growth Program providing support and guidance to entrepreneurial individuals at all levels of interest, both for-profit and social ventures. The focus on impact entrepreneurship throughout all programs is supported by the annual SDG Leadership Forum, the SDG Student Club and Community Activism, empowering individuals with lifelong learning to innovate and build impactful solutions to challenging problems of the world. This year as well, the COE has partnered with Digital Society School, Amsterdam and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to host the Global Goals Jam Canada as part of global activity occurring in more than 80 cities around the world.
Before the Jam: SDG Training
In preparation for the Global Goals Jam Canada Winter 2022, the COE organized an SDG Training session on February 25th, 2022. The 3-hour session brought a wealth of knowledge by experts on the Global Goals and the United Nations to students, faculty, staff and community members. Led by the Foundation for Environmental Stewardship (FES), participants gained both knowledge on the history of as well as training on the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. The keynote speakers were Steve Lee, a young climate change activist, policy advocate to the United Nations and former Executive Director of the FES, alongside Julie Marshall, Canadian Spokesperson for United Nations World Food Programme since 2006. The second part of the SDG Training was delivered the following week on March 4th. It featured a Localization session where 31 participants learned about actionable ways to implement the SDGs in their local contexts, alongside an interactive Action Plan Workshop that engaged them in problem identification and the design thinking process while working in teams. Participants also earned Certificates of Completion from FES.
The Global Goals Jam Canada Winter 2022:
An Overview
Leading up to the United Nations World Water Day, the SDG Innovation Lab at the Centre of Entrepreneurship (COE) planned and organized a Global Goals Jam on March 18-20, 2022. The Jam was an intense, hands-on, team-oriented and thoughtfully mentored program during which participants worked together to identify the root problem based on proposed themes and topics, and explore solutions in teams using human-centered design and lean methodology. The goal was to design, build and pitch strategies for an originally- or collaboratively-hatched idea focusing on challenging problems of the world addressing multiple SDGs. In line with this year’s United Nations World Water Day, participants worked on topics addressing:
1. Leave No One Behind – Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
2. Clean Water and Sanitation
3. Climate Change
Check out the detailed report of our Global Goals Jam Themes & Topics too!
Our distinguished Keynote Presenter Dr. Shefali V. Mehta, Deputy Under Secretary of Research, Education, and Economics and Acting Chief Scientist at the U.S. The Department of Agriculture (USDA) provided high-level context for our participants before they embarked on their journey of discovery and innovation. She was followed by expert presentations from Bruce Taylor, Founder and President of Enviro-Stewards who challenged status-quo designs and operations with innovation and creativity, while spearheading social impact. Finally, Dr. Elaine Ho-Tassone, Postdoctoral Fellow and Faculty at Algoma University, Project Coordinator for Lake Huron North and member of the Sault Ste. Marie’s Canada Water Agency Task Force shared her expertise on freshwater management and the Grand Riverwatershed, highlighting the importance of water management, one of the key themes of the Jam.
In addition to a strong student response that included participation from George Brown and Seneca Colleges, the Jam also featured faculty leadership and expertise from the various schools within Centennial (School of Engineering Technology and Applied Science, The Business School, School of Community and Health Studies, and School of Hospitality, Tourism and Culinary Arts).
34 executive mentors from post-secondary institutes, government, corporations and community groups (including Ryerson University, Algoma University, George Brown College, Business Development Bank of Canada and Environment and Climate Change Canada) came and provided guidance and mentorship to the teams on themes, business ideas, pitches, developing virtual prototypes, and integrating advice and feedback throughout the design journey. At the end of the design jam, three teams were awarded prizes totaling $4,500 based on evaluation by the panel of esteemed judges below.
34 executive mentors from post-secondary institutes, government, corporations and community groups (including Ryerson University, Algoma University, George Brown College, Business Development Bank of Canada and Environment and Climate Change Canada) came and provided guidance and mentorship to the teams on themes, business ideas, pitches, developing virtual prototypes, and integrating advice and feedback throughout the design journey. At the end of the design jam, three teams were awarded prizes totaling $4,500 based on evaluation by the panel of esteemed judges below.
Among the winning team members were four Centennial College students Saranya Hari Kumar (1st place team member), Bianca Van Wyk and Royalty Adelola (both 2nd place team members) and Francis Paul (3rd place team member).
Our Winning Teams:
Initio Mutatio – Overall Winner
Click the slide or this link to view their final pitch deck!
Project overview:
Dark data constitutes 80% of all data in the world; data that is unnecessarily stored yet aggressively consuming energy. Inicio Mutatio aims at optimizing data storage to lessen environmental impact and help data centers be more efficient. The outcome is to develop sustainable strategies that can reduce the use of finite natural resources.
They achieve this by helping data center providers automate dark data management efficiently, providing status reports and analytical systems that purge unnecessary data. By providing the best practices in energy conservation in regards to dark data, Initio Mutatio aims to be a leader in this new, innovative field to decrease data centers’ carbon footprint.
Teammates:
- Tanvir Singh Ahuja—George Brown College, Applied Artificial Intelligence Solutions
- Melric Rego—George Brown College, BIM Management
- Saranya Hari Kumar—Centennial College, Interactive Media Management
- Silvia Lopes
Building Healer – 2nd Place
Click the slide or this link to view their final pitch deck!
Project overview:
Building Healer aims at reducing GHG by 25-30% by retrofitting and educating building residents in order to reduce heating & electricity usage. They help building owners reduce utility costs by providing space heating and other energy monitoring and efficiency solutions while using an educational and incentive-based system. The goal is to save energy in daily life for ourselves, in order to reduce rent or condo fees and at the same time, help the environment. Compared to current contractors and solutions who are only offering one part of the solution (i.e. energy monitoring or solar panels), Building Healer offers a complete packaged plan tailored to each specific building they work with.
Teammates:
- Agnes Smolarsk
- Falgun Shah
- Bianca Van Wyk—Centennial College, Community Development Work
- Royalty Adelola—Centennial College, Community Development Work
- Meladul Haq Ahmadzai
Great Lakes Avengers – 3rd Place
Click the slide or this link to view their final pitch deck!
Project overview:
Can you imagine beet juice replacing our road salts during the winter? Great Lakes Avengers aims at designing new eco-friendly systems to deice roads and sidewalks for municipalities in North America in order to decrease salinity in water bodies, reduce damage in infrastructure and protect the paws of pets.
The goal is to offer a regenerative product using food waste, such as coffee grinds, beet juice, vegetable brines and other vegetable waste products as an alternative to traditional salt deicers in order to mitigate the salt pollution that are increasing the salinity of the Great Lakes and water ecosystems. The Great Lakes Avengers aim to target eco-conscious consumers, property management companies as well as snow removal companies, and scale to target all North American municipalities.
Teammates:
- Alejandro Castellanos
- Chanakya Ramdev
- Francis Paul—Centennial College, Journalism
- Kasim Abdulmonem
What our participants shared:
“Definitely one of the best experiences I’ve had during the college year. I got to meet and work with two amazing team members and received super helpful advice from mentors. Thank you Vicky, Gabriella, and Lalit for holding this event!!”
– Bao T.
“I’m really excited about the Jam. I’m learning as I’m doing. The mentors are great and helped us a lot in guiding the discussion.”
“GGJ is an exciting platform to participate, learn and exercise one’s entrepreneurial potential. It brings out the best in you and makes you more confident to tap into future endeavors.”
– Tamanna S.
“I have never been to any three-consecutive day event so far and it was exhausting. But I have learned as much as I would learn in three weeks. I received all the help and support that I needed and was extremely grateful for that. It’s unfortunate that the event is held online due to Covid, but 11/10 in overall!!!”
“Thank you for the opportunity. I have gained a lot of knowledge from the mentors and my team. This is a great opportunity for people passionate about entrepreneurship.”
“I liked working with all my team members. I was happy to use my patience skills, listening, and contributing. Two days of collaboration on SDGs with a great team not only helped me but has prepared me to tackle global issues.”
“Incredible experience. Learned a lot of new skills during the process. The possibility to have mentors advising you was the best! A real-world, hands-on learning!”
– Alejandra C. A.
“An exceptional experience which develops skills that you can take into the job market.”
– Laura H.
“One of the best pitching events for anyone out there looking to build up on business ideas.”
– Rehan S. M. A.
“Excellent organization and rich resources in the form of mentors, speakers and organizers.”
“ Surprisingly challenging. A fun time though and amazing organization. ”
– Agnes S.
“ It has been a very enriching experience. I would love to do this in person!”
– Alejandro C.
“It was a challenging event and at the same time a very enriching experience. My first time participating and worth every minute spent for this Jam. Kudos to Mr. Lalit and his team.”
– Falgun S.
“Two days of collaboration on SDG’s with a great team not only helped me but has prepared me to tackle global issues.”
– Meladul