Engineering Team Off to Hong Kong for Business Competition

May 4, 2009

[Note:  Event organizers announced on May 20 that the competition was postponed to June 2010 due to concerns over the spread of the H1N1 virus. Organizers are to provide further information on the status of this year's competitors]

More than 120 teams registered but only 30 were chosen. A team of four engineering students from McMaster were among the finalists selected to compete in the first annual Hong Kong Polytechnic University Innovation & Entrepreneurship Student Challenge being held in Hong Kong from June 3-9.

The McMaster team, who will be pitching their business plan for commercializing a collapsible bicycle trailer, is made up of Lindsey Kettel (Mechanical Engineering & Management V), Cory Minkhorst (Mechanical Engineering & Management V), Deborah Lee (Chemical Engineering IV), and David Russell (Software Engineering & Management V).

This is more than a theoretical exercise for the McMaster team. Lindsey and Cory invented the collapsible bicycle trailer for their final year capstone project. They went on to win the Innovative Design category at the Ontario Engineering Competition in February and place second at the Canadian Engineering Competition in April, where they also won the environmental award.

The Hong Kong competition will see competitors presenting to an international panel of entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and academics. Twelve of the 30 teams presenting on June 5 will go on to the final round on June 6. Teams are competing for cash prizes ($US) of $5,000 for first place, $3,000 for second, and $1,500 for third. There will also be theme awards of $2,000 each for categories such as Health and Wellness, Lifestyle, and Environment & Sustainability.

Of the 30 university teams that qualified globally seven are from Canada. There is also a high school category in the competition.

The competition website is: www.polyu.edu.hk/polyuchallenge/index.php