The participants received plenty of support throughout the challenge, including mentoring from industry experts, entrepreneurs, and UC academics to help them refine and improve their ideas. They were also provided with delicious and sustainable food over the two days.
At the end of the challenge, each team had three minutes to pitch their ideas to the judging panel of Mads Moller (Lead Advisor at Xstart), Anne Galloway (Christchurch City Councillor) and Paul Ballantine (Head of the UC Business School), followed by a short Q&A session.
The judges were looking for innovative ideas with the potential to have a real impact in reducing New Zealand’s emissions and be financially viable.
The winning teams took home a share in $2,000 in prize money. They were:
- First Place: The Seaweed Solution
The Seaweed Solution will use innovative seaweed farming techniques to sell blue carbon credits and offset emissions in Christchurch.
- Second Place: Inobin
Inobin will use a newly discovered bacteria, Ideonella Sakaiensis, to break down PET plastics as an alternative to recycling.
- Third Place: Respire Energy
Respire Energy will use an anaerobic digestor to convert food waste into renewable energy and fertiliser which can be then sold commercially.
Many challenge participants also attended UCE’s Impact Summit on Saturday to be inspired by people who have put similar social enterprise ideas into action.
You can read more about the Challenge and Impact Summit here.
UCE provides a dedicated, student-focused space where innovation can flourish, stimulating the development of entrepreneurs through a combination of research, teaching and community engagement.
If you are interested in the UCE disrupt series, find out more here.