UW engineering graduates make it to finals in international James Dyson Award competition
Posted Nov 7, 2021 10:08:00 PM.
Two University of Waterloo engineering graduates have scored a place in the top 20 finalists of the international James Dyson Award competition.
Driven by a love of environmentalism and a need for change, Anneke van Heuven and Elias Trouyet found themselves working on an environmentally friendly, non-toxic flame retardant in their final year of university.
Now graduated, they submitted their invention, AlgoBio, to the James Dyson Award competition, which runs in 28 countries. They were named runners-up in the Canadian leg of the competition, and are now moving onto the international finals where James Dyson himself judges their applications.
“Part of our undergraduate degree requires us to do a capstone design project, and our interests in terms of technology and just prospects aligned, so we decided to work together,” said Trouyet.
The group working on the capstone project included two other members at first.
“The four of us were really passionate about working on something that would help the environment,” van Heuven said. “And we knew of this issue where toxic flame retardants are used… they can cause health impacts in humans. They’ve been used for so long, [and] there really hasn’t been a solution. So that kind of inspired us to try to make a difference.”
Health impacts of typical flame retardants can cause issues like fertility complications for men and women, brain development issues in children; they can lead to cancer, and affect the thyroid in various ways, among other things, according to van Heuven.
Currently, they have two formulations.
“It’s essentially a combination of nanoparticles and a biopolymer,” Trouyet said. “So our main application is a coating on textiles. And it differentiates itself with respect to other flame retardants because it's non-toxic. And then all the resources that we use to make it are renewable — and they are abundant and relatively cheap.”
They are also working on a powder form, which could be used as an additive for plastics.
“I’m really excited to be in the top 20,” Trouyet said. “We’re hoping we can make a positive change and having our name put on such a big scene is definitely a way that could help us grow and have the impact we initially desired when we started this venture.”
The international winner will receive a prize of $50,000, plus $8,000 for the winner’s university. There is also a sustainability prize of $50,000, and two international runner-up prizes of $8,000.
Trouyet says they would use the funding to continue growing their startup.
While they are excited at the prospect of winning, both said they were thrilled that Dyson would be looking at their application himself.
“It's kind of crazy to think that he'll actually be reading about our project,” van Heuven said.
“Just making it to this stage is already an accomplishment in itself. So I'm already very proud of us for getting there,” Trouyet added.
Regardless of how the competition goes, the pair plans to bring their invention to market, “whether that’s growing this business and expanding it, or working with bigger companies that are already out there,” van Heuven said. “Either way, we are passionate about getting this [product] out there.”
The winners will be announced Nov. 17.
