Eight teams finalists in Mayor’s Innovation Challenge in Kingston | The Kingston Whig Standard
Five finalist student teams are from St. Lawrence College while three are from Queen’s University.
The St. Lawrence teams heading to the final pitches are Kingston SnapPods, Accessible Public Washrooms, The Global City Initiative, Team Co-Labs and Pride Hub.
- Kingston SnapPods is a stationary photo and information station strategically placed at Kingston hot spots, providing tourists and residents a convenient way to capture memories and learn about the city’s attractions.
- Accessible Public Washrooms is about introducing automated and self-cleaning washrooms to popular downtown spaces.
- The Global City Initiative is an organization to develop international onboarding initiatives for the Kingston community.
- Team Co-Labs is a cloud-based storage system for vulnerable individuals to safely and securely store their essential documentation, including identification, bank cards and other data that can be easily lost or stolen.
- The Pride Hub is a 2SLGBTQIA+ virtual training and awareness hub.
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The winning team of the Dunin-Deshpande Smart Kingston Stream will receive admission to a four-month incubator program with the Dunin-Deshpande Queen’s Innovation Centre. As part of this experience, they will be granted up to $5,000 in seed funding to build a venture around their idea, along with full participation in the Queen’s Innovation Centre Summer Initiative program, and the opportunity to pitch again in August for a grand prize of $30,000 to accelerate their innovation.
Winners from of the Public Sector Innovation Stream will receive a four-month paid internship with the City of Kingston. The winning team will gain access to a full slate of resources and mentorship from staff at the city. They will also be exposed to a variety of projects underway at the city and will have the opportunity to build skills and gain invaluable government experience applicable in any career.
The winning team will also be exposed to a variety of other projects underway at the city and will have the opportunity to build skills and gain invaluable government experience, applicable in any career.