UOIT students present their Capstone projects to industry professionals

Innovation was flourishing at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology’s (UOIT) Science building for the 2012 Connections Showcase.

Ten student groups presented their Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE) Connections Capstone projects in front of their peers, faculty, industry sponsors and a panel of three judges, competing for the chance to move on to the next stage in the competition: OCE Discovery Days. Hosted by UOIT’s Office of Technology Transfer and Commercialization (OTTC) and OCE, the Connections program strives to support entrepreneurship at the university by giving students a chance to work with an industry partner to create the next great innovation.

“I was impressed with the breadth of the projects the students took on,” said Dr. Ann Dulhanty, manager of the OTTC. “It’s a good representation of all the areas of research we have at UOIT, and the presenters all showed incredible professionalism. It’s a fun event because the students have so much enthusiasm and it’s a great experience for them.”

During the project, students enhanced their creativity, their problem solving and their professional skills, while creating strong relationships with their industry partners. The student teams were given five minutes to present their project to the judges with points being deducted for being over the time limit. The judges included Martin Croteau, executive director, Spark Centre; Sue Castanier, senior business advisor, Ministry of Economic Development and Innovation; and Jose Costa, manager, Business Development, OCE.

Before the provincial finals held this May at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, five teams from five different Ontario universities will be selected to present their project in front of industry professionals, academia, government and the investment community to pursue collaboration opportunities. The most innovative team at the Discovery Days will win the title of Best University Project as well as $2,000 in prize money.

The UOIT winners were announced after the 10 presentations. Congratulations were given to Automotive Engineering students Justin Vanden Bosch, Kevin Cuddy and Paul Craven who won first place for their automotive system-cooling project.

“It was a little surprising,” said Vanden Bosch. “But it’s a huge honour.”

The team will now move on to the next stage where they hope to be picked as one of the university groups to present in Toronto. For now, the team will work more on their project to get it ready to hopefully present to the more than 2,000 Discovery Day attendees and represent the great innovations happening at UOIT.