Alaagi is a startup focused on creating innovative, biodegradable bioplastics from seaweed. Its mission is to replace traditional plastics with sustainable alternatives that naturally decompose within a year, reducing environmental impact and promoting a cleaner future. Alaagi aims to revolutionize the packaging industry and contribute to a circular economy by harnessing seaweed’s natural properties. Its seaweed-based bioplastics are designed to be versatile, adaptable, and environmentally friendly, offering a viable solution to the global plastic pollution crisis.
Bean is the food assistant that makes meal planning effortless and enjoyable. With Bean, you can keep track of ingredients, get recipe suggestions based on what you already have, and even set meal prep goals that fit your busy schedule. Whether you’re a student, a busy professional, or a parent, Bean is designed to save you time, cut down on food waste, and make meal decisions a breeze. Bean’s smart recommendation engine learns your tastes and dietary preferences, providing you with recipe suggestions that match your lifestyle.
Sociable provides an avenue for post-secondary students to connect with their peers and build deep support networks. Its platform provides information and access to all campus events. The main feature, however, is the Pre-Connect feature. Students can join group chats prior to an event, allowing them to go to an event with a peer. Sociable fits into the untapped niche of modernized student engagement platforms. What also makes our platform unique, is we limit the range of connection to other students within your very own school, truly building the community. This platform allows all students an easy way to form connections and receive peer support.
In this 10-week program, Saint Mary’s students across the Faculty of Science, Arts and Commerce will develop their business ideas and compete for the grand prize of $10,000 to turn the business idea into reality and a potential opportunity for experiential learning with honorariums and funding opportunities. While competing, students will be connected with experienced industry experts, to offer a platform for learning, networking and developing their entrepreneurial venture.
What to expect:
Eligibility:
Sociable, a modern and innovative student engagement platform developed by three Saint Mary’s students was the grand prize winner of Innovation Cup 2024.
Olivian Sanderson (BComm, Accounting and Management) Jason Phonchareon (BSc, Psychology) and Stuti Sandhu (BA, Psychology) developed the start-up, Sociable to address student loneliness within universities. Sociable helps students connect with each other, get peer support and information and access to campus events. One of the unique features of Sociable is “Pre-Connect”, a feature that allows students to join group chats prior to an event, allowing them to attend an event with a peer. Also unique is Sociable limits the range of connection to students within the same school, truly building campus community.
The Sociable team will use the $10,000 towards completing their UX design, as well as legal fees, marketing and cloud storage.
Left to right—Jason Phonchareon, Olivian Sanderson, Stuti Sandhu
Plastarch Packaging, a bioplastic alternative to solve the need for environmentally friendly cutlery and food packaging. Introducing a durable, food-safe material created from set-to-be-wasted root vegetables high in starch. The Plastarch team Susan MacInnis, Maddie Bristol, and Mya MacDonald (left to right) are also part of the Enactus team at Saint Mary’s. Hear more about their journey as they take Plastarch Packaging further in its growth!
“It was super fun, and it pushed us outside of our comfort zone in a good way,” said Maddie Bristol, a Commerce student, who developed the idea in one of her courses in the last year of her program. “Put yourself out there and do it. Not only was it just fun to hang out with my friends every week, but we learned so many important, valuable skills and then we ended up winning $10,000. So that’s a bonus.”
Mya MacDonald, an arts student, shared, “… since winning the Innovation Cup, we have been working on developing our minimum viable product. We have also been making great connections, really building out our networks as well and just preparing to share it with the world.”
Susan MacInnis, who is a science student added that the competition was a valuable opportunity to engage with the ecosystem. “The Innovation Cup was a great opportunity to connect with business leaders and entrepreneurs in Halifax and within the university. It was super fun to learn from everyone and hear everyone’s awesome ideas as well.”
Bean is the food assistant that makes meal planning effortless and enjoyable. With Bean, you can keep track of ingredients, get recipe suggestions based on what you already have, and even set meal prep goals that fit your busy schedule. Whether you’re a student, a busy professional, or a parent, Bean is designed to save you time, cut down on food waste, and make meal decisions a breeze. Bean’s smart recommendation engine learns your tastes and dietary preferences, providing you with recipe suggestions that match your lifestyle.
Alaagi is a startup focused on creating innovative, biodegradable bioplastics from seaweed. Its mission is to replace traditional plastics with sustainable alternatives that naturally decompose within a year, reducing environmental impact and promoting a cleaner future. Alaagi aims to revolutionize the packaging industry and contribute to a circular economy by harnessing seaweed’s natural properties. Its seaweed-based bioplastics are designed to be versatile, adaptable, and environmentally friendly, offering a viable solution to the global plastic pollution crisis.
The Innovation Cup 2023 was an ambitious pilot which took off on October 2. This 10-week experiential learning program took in 30 Saint Mary’s students from Arts, Commerce and Science making up 10 teams, for the grand prize of $10,000 to develop their start-up idea and a summer job opportunity!
From early October through late November, these student teams worked on building unique business ideas through trials and tests. They had the support of community members, industry experts and the Arthur L. Irving Entrepreneurship Centre’s staff guiding them through the different sessions and eliminations to increase and hone their business understanding, skills and network.
On December 8, four teams went into Semi-Finals and Finals back-to-back with Plastarch Packaging coming out as the big winners!
SeaCycle, a water filtration system designed to remove plastic waste ranging from water bottles to microplastics using a multistage gravity filter, while also providing automated water quality reports. The team consisted of Jack Poirier, Aneesa Hussain, and Gabriel Martin (left to right), who are also part of Enactus SMU and have been working on this project over the past year. They also won the Atlantic AquaHacking Competition in 2023.
Students compete to win $10,000 with innovative ideas
