Innovating for the community

A team of Queen카지노 게임 컬렉션�s students is one of the winners of the sixth annual Mayor카지노 게임 컬렉션�s Innovation Challenge. Hosted by the City of Kingston, the challenge brings together teams of students from the city카지노 게임 컬렉션�s post-secondary education institutions for a pitch competition focusing on new approaches to community issues.  

This year카지노 게임 컬렉션�s successful Queen카지노 게임 컬렉션�s team won the Public Sector Innovation Stream award for creating Food4All, a web application designed to reduce food insecurity and food waste in Kingston. As recipients of the award, the Food4All team will be placed in four-month paid internships with a municipal department in the City of Kingston, where they will build valuable skills, learn about working in government, and be mentored by city staff.

카지노 게임 컬렉션�We started Food4All to give back to the city and harness the community spirit that we see everywhere in Kingston,카지노 게임 컬렉션� says Hashir Sami, co-founder of Food4All and a second-year computing student at Queen카지노 게임 컬렉션�s. 카지노 게임 컬렉션�Kingston is a tight-knit community where people really want to help each other, but sometimes it can be difficult to figure out how to make donations in the most effective way. Our app will solve the logistical problems of food donation and provide food-insecure individuals access to a variety of foods. We are honored to have been chosen for this award and are excited for the opportunity to work with the City of Kingston.카지노 게임 컬렉션�

Sami co-founded Food4All with fellow Queen카지노 게임 컬렉션�s student Yash Shrestha, second-year health sciences, and Ryan Khuu, a second-year computer engineering student at Toronto Metropolitan 카지노게임사이트. The three students originally created the app in January for QHacks, an event held at Queen카지노 게임 컬렉션�s in which student teams design a digital product from scratch in 36 hours. At QHacks, they were awarded with direct entry into the Mayor카지노 게임 컬렉션�s Innovation Challenge.

They chose to focus on this project because they wanted to find solutions to food insecurity, which affects millions of people in Canada. Food4All connects local businesses and local non-profit organizations with volunteers who can deliver donations. Using the app, restaurants and other businesses can post their unused food items and non-profits can claim them. Volunteers can then use the app to schedule pick-up and drop-off times, so they can efficiently move the donated items from the businesses to the charities, helping to eliminate food waste and reduce food insecurity at the same time.

Partnering with the city to promote local innovation 

There was also a Queen카지노 게임 컬렉션�s presence at the event beyond the student teams. The Dunin-Deshpande Queen카지노 게임 컬렉션�s Innovation Centre (DDQIC) is a partner of the challenge and admit the winners of the Smart Kingston Stream into their QYourVenture program, which guides participants through the phases of entrepreneurship. Smith School of Business Dean Wanda Costen and DDQIC Academic Director Jim McClellan were also on hand to serve as judges of the competition.

카지노 게임 컬렉션�The Food4All team made a strong impression on the judges for its novel approach to the problems of food insecurity and food waste,카지노 게임 컬렉션� says McClellan. 카지노 게임 컬렉션�The Mayor카지노 게임 컬렉션�s Innovation Challenge really showcases the creativity and community spirit of Queen카지노 게임 컬렉션�s students as well as students from Royal Military College and St. Lawrence College. It카지노 게임 컬렉션�s inspiring to see the ingenuity they bring to tackling real world challenges and their strength of interest in the community. DDQIC is excited to be a partner of the event and to work with Strive Storage, this year카지노 게임 컬렉션�s winners of the Smart Kingston Stream award.카지노 게임 컬렉션�

Kingston post-secondary students pitch new solutions

Eight teams in total competed in the challenge, three from Queen카지노 게임 컬렉션�s. In addition to Food4All, the Queen카지노 게임 컬렉션�s teams were Sense Kingston and Kingsley. Sense Kingston is a platform to visualize the air quality and weather of Kingston through the transit network. And Kingsley is a tool designed for the City of Kingston website that aims to make finding and accessing relevant information easy and convenient.

The other five teams came from St. Lawrence College and focused on a range of topics, including accessible public washrooms and tourism. Strive Storage from St. Lawrence earned the Smart Kingston Stream award.  

카지노 게임 컬렉션�We were blown away by the caliber of ideas presented by the teams during the pitch competition,카지노 게임 컬렉션� says Kingston Mayor Bryan Paterson in a release from the city. 카지노 게임 컬렉션�I look forward to this event each year. It카지노 게임 컬렉션�s very exciting to have a front-row seat to see how the next generation is anticipating and problem-solving for Kingston카지노 게임 컬렉션�s current and future needs.카지노 게임 컬렉션�

Note: This article originally appeared in the Queen's Gazette.