Concordia students Charles Gedeon (left) and Al-Hurr Al-Dalli (right), and McGill graduate Sami Sayegh (centre) combined their talents to develop the project Skywell, for which they received first prize at the Shell Ideas360 international competition in Amsterdam in May 2014. The contest challenges students to come up with innovative ideas to tackle energy, water and food issues.
The student team that beat out more than 600 competitors, winning the Shell Ideas360 international competition in Amsterdam, may not be the most conventional group. But the diverse skill sets of a biology and social science graduate, a marketing student and a film student proved to be an ideal mix for designing Skywell, a large sail-like structure with a hydrophobic coating that collects dew as a water source for some of the world's driest locations.
What brought Concordia University students Charles Gedeon and Al-Hurr Al-Dalli, and McGill University graduate Sami Sayegh together is a shared background – all three grew up in the United Arab Emirates – and the desire to solve water shortage problems. The collaboration was made possible through Concordia's District 3 Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
The team's inspiration came from a history lesson about Bedouin nomads, who used dew traps to collect water, says Mr. Sayegh, who developed the original Skywell concept. Mr. Gedeon, who studies marketing, used his experience in graphic design to generate a computer model. Mr. Al-Dalli, a film student, analyzed the geopolitical issues potentially impacting the project and produced a video submission that wowed the judges of the global competition that challenges students to come up with innovative ideas to tackle energy, water and food issues.
In fine-tuning their award-winning pitch, the students had the help of Xavier-Henri Hervé, the founding director of District 3, who sees the centre as a catalyst. "If you look at Skywell, the project happened spontaneously," he says. "All the students needed was a collaborative space, the right process and a sounding board to help them take it from idea to impact."
Graham Carr, Concordia's VP for research, has observed that cross-disciplinary teams come up with innovative ideas. "If they operate in a more traditional environment, they might only be able to tackle one part of the problem."
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Multidisciplinary collaboration is not just an add-on universities can provide, it's something students demand, says Prof. Carr, adding that as good as Canada's post-secondary education is, a new generation of students is increasingly looking for opportunities to "think outside the box.
"Universities have a constantly renewable pool of bright young talent, bringing enthusiasm, energy and a variety of different experiences and backgrounds," Prof. Carr says. "Part of what we can do is provide the means to unleash some of that potential by facilitating connections."
These connections – among students and faculty, but also with professionals from the business world and the public sector – can generate ideas and support their progression to real-life application, says Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) president and CEO Gilles Patry.
Dr. Patry refers to a recent Council of Canadian Academies report that states that while Canada has only 0.5 per cent of the world's population, it produces close to five per cent of the most highly cited research papers. "In the creation of new knowledge, we are doing quite well," he explains. "What's more challenging is taking these new ideas and concepts and translating them into tangible benefits for Canadians."
Research and innovation are critically important for maintaining our high standard of living, says Dr. Patry, especially in today's knowledge economy. The CFI, which invests in state-of-the-art facilities and equipment at universities and colleges, is part of Canada's research and innovation system and helps to attract and retain the best talent in the world, train the next generation of highly qualified personnel and promote the commercialization of innovation.
"Part of our mandate is to assist in bridging the gap between the academic and the private sectors," Dr. Patry says, adding that efforts like District 3, the Digital Media Zone at Ryerson University and Velocity at the University of Waterloo have been effective in connecting students with other innovators, who may be seasoned entrepreneurs and can provide advice on how the ideas would fare in the marketplace.
District 3, for example, often draws on the expertise of Concordia alumni, who, in some cases, have enterprises that can benefit from the students' explorations, says Mr. Hervé, a Concordia graduate, who returned to the university after garnering valuable industry experience as the co-founder of Mechtronix, a flight simulation software company.
Some projects are initiated by students, but in other cases, teams are assembled to tackle specific problems, Mr. Hervé says. An example is the project Law Enforcement, where first responders approached District 3
to explore effective methods for breaking down doors without getting in harm's way.
Electrical engineering student Ryan Desgroseillers says working with industry partners not only provided insights into the logistics of forced entry, it also helped in establishing connections with people who would potentially use – and buy – the device. With the benefits of hands-on instruction on how to market an idea, Law Enforcement's forced entry tool is well on its way to becoming a business.
Transforming their idea into a product that contributes to the greater good is also the intent of the Skywell team. Mr. Gedeon explains that the goal is to produce Skywell as a kit that can be easily shipped and assembled – much like IKEA furniture – in difficult-to-reach locations. Mr. Sayegh is looking forward to teaming up with experts in material engineering, surface chemistry and meteorology, to name a few, and says, "If anyone is interested in helping us make this a real product, please get in touch."