Peterborough Blogs
Entrepreneur Wins Cubs' Lair With Innovative Solution For First Nations To Obtain Tax Exemption
/After six innovative pitches were made during the annual Cubs’ Lair competition Thursday night (November 30th) at the Gordon Best Theatre hosted by FastStart Peterborough, the Innovation Cluster and the Trent Youth Entrepreneurship Society, Rich Cochrane of Status Exempt was announced as the winner. His final prize package includes more than $14,000 to help push his startup.
Member of Curve Lake First Nation, Rich Cochrane started Status Exempt as a mission to make it easy for First Nations shoppers to buy online, tax exempt. Currently, First Nations online shoppers need to submit their receipts to the government for a tax refund, a process that can take up to 90 days—Cochrane’s innovative solution will reduce this to mere minutes.
Left to right: Runner-up Sultan Moni of Zatiq; Winner Rich Cochrane of Status Exempt, Runner-up Victoria Naish of The Cake Engineer.
Currently working in the Cluster’s incubator building his business, Cochrane has been busy creating a platform for businesses and First Nations consumers to provide tax exemption in an easy way.
“Reconciliation is a hot topic in Canada right now,” says Cochrane. “A big component of reconciliation is building a stronger relationship between Indigenous Canadians and the rest of Canada and businesses will play a critical role in building that relationship.”
First Nations represent over three percent of Canada’s population and are also the fastest growing segment of the population with many living in remote or rural areas having no other option but to shop online. With this solution, Cochrane predicts that businesses will gain a large group of consumers.
Cochrane’s background includes being a banker in downtown Toronto, an analyst in the Aboriginal Banking unit at the Bank of Montreal, and graduating from the University of Windsor with a Bachelor of Commerce, specializing in Finance, Accounting and Entrepreneurship.
Cubs' Lair finalists and judges (Photograph by Sofie Andreou)
Judges listened to pitches that included tech innovations for archaeology, real estate, energy saving and mobile apps, as well as a pitch for a cupcake bar service.
The two runners up of the competition are Sultan Moni of Zatiq and Victoria Naish of The Cake Engineer.
Rich Cochrane will now be able to push his startup with the grand prize package, which includes $3,000 cash from Ontario 150, extended incubator space at the Cluster, coaching and mentoring from established startups and more.
Engage with us on social media on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Write to us at tips@ptbocanada.com. Sign up for PTBOBuzz newsletter here. Watch our PTBOCanada Love video here.
350 Students From Across Canada To Attend Trent University’s 2nd Annual Hackathon
/Electric City Hacks is back and bigger than ever. More than 350 post-secondary students from across the country, including students from local area high schools, are expected to attend Peterborough’s only hackathon, which will return to Trent University on November 3rd to 5th.
Founded in 2016 by four Trent University Computer Science and Information Systems students, Electric City Hacks or “ECHacks” offers post-secondary students the opportunity to put their coding knowledge to the test by creating an original hack, gadget or app from scratch in less than 37 hours.
Photo courtesy Innovation Cluster
This year’s hackathon will consist of multiple categories such as “Best Green Hack”, “Agriculture Hack”, “Adventure Hack” and more, to encourage participants to create with a specific purpose in mind. Prizes will be awarded to the top team in each category Sunday afternoon.
In between hacking, participants can also look forward to a morning hike around the Trent nature areas, campus tours and yoga classes, as well as a taste of Peterborough’s downtown with meals provided all weekend by local vendors and restaurants.
Photo courtesy Innovation Cluster
The Innovation Cluster is a sponsor this year:
“We are extremely excited to support the second annual Electric City Hacks at Trent University,” says Michael Skinner, President & CEO of the Innovation Cluster. “This hackathon will be a great opportunity for students to expose talent, grow, recruit and bring new innovative companies to Peterborough.”
Photo courtesy Innovation Cluster
St. Patrick CES To Host Catholic Board Robotics Competition
/Design, check. Coding, check. Math, check. Problem solving, check. Team work, check. Fun, check.
The annual Peterborough Victoria Northumberland and Clarington Catholic District School Board Robotics Competition at St. Patrick Catholic Elementary School in Peterborough will have it all as they host 16 teams from six schools on November 9th, competing in three robotics challenges from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Photo from last year's competition
Participants will compete with Lego Mindstorms robots, which will be built before the competition, and students will be given time between competitions to upgrade robots as needed.
“This event inspires students to work together to solve problems in real time, while competing in a fun, good-spirited competition,” St. Patrick CES principal Karan Leal says. “Students design, program and code their own robots. They learn great STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) skills and we tend to get as many girls participating as boys, which is really promising to see.”
THE MAZE CHALLENGE
This challenge is to successfully finish the maze within two minutes. A robot must be able to navigate a maze from start to finish using either its touch or ultra-sensors. The winner will be the robot that makes it the farthest or finishes the maze the fastest.
THE HOCKEY CHALLENGE
Teams will create two robots that can move or hit a ball into a net. The robots will be run by a remote control. Teams will play against opponents in a round-robin format. The team that scores the most goals in the five-minute game will win. In the event of a tie, there will be a best-of-five shootout.
THE ROBOT CHALLENGE
Robots will fight for five minutes in a small arena. Robots can have any Lego battle attack strategies such as spinners, swinging arms, or shooting balls. Points will be awarded by the referee. The team wins by having the most points at the end of the five-minute match, by disabling the other robots, and/or by pushing the other robots out of the arena.
Check out this short video of last year’s Robotics Competition for a glimpse of all the excitement...
Ladies Learning Code’s National Learn To Code Day Being Hosted At Innovation Cluster’s Downtown Incubator
/The Innovation Cluster - Peterborough and the Kawarthas will be hosting the Peterborough region of the annual National Learn to Code Day for women interested in coding at the downtown Cube for technology startups, on Saturday, September 23rd.
Presented by Ladies Learning Code, a Canada-wide not-for-profit organization that provides resources for women and children to learn skills in technology through a social and collaborative environment, this will give the opportunity for women to learn basic skills during Learn to Code Day.
As a workshop that provides an inclusive experience to learn technological skills, Ladies Learning Code will present a beginner-friendly workshop to 30 women in the downtown Cube, as well as the same workshop being held in 29 cities across Canada.
The workshop is a public event open to any women wanting to learn or enhance their technological skills in coding and programming. Participants will gain skills and confidence while being educated in HTML, CSS, WordPress, Python, Ruby, web design and other skill-sets recommended to become digital creators.
National Girls Learning Code Day
The Innovation Cluster partnered with Ladies Learning Code in May to host National Girls Learning Code Day, a similar workshop directed towards young girls to learn basic skills in coding, in hopes to bring interest and awareness to tech-related opportunities as a career.
To register for Ladies Learning Code, click here.
Engage with us on social media on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Write to us at tips@ptbocanada.com. Sign up for PTBOBuzz newsletter here. Watch our PTBOCanada Love video here.
Peterborough Entrepreneur Launches Mobile App For Users To Discover Their Next Meal Based On Their Mood
/Peterborough entrepreneur Sultan Moni, a student at Trent University, has launched a new app that could change the way consumers choose their next meal. Zatiq is a platform for users to discover local foods around them that will match their cravings to a meal.
Through artificial intelligence, this unique app—now available in Google Play Store and launching on the App store in August—could redefine the food and hospitality industry. A mix of inputting the user’s mood and meal preferences will allow the app to be personalized at any user’s command.
“People are always hungry but often never know what they want to eat,” says Moni. “I wanted to solve that problem since there are so many different types of meals to discover.”
Moni is based out of the Innovation Cluster’s downtown Cube in Peterborough, and combined his love for trying new meals and developing technology to create a food discovery app that can benefit anyone who wants to discover new food and find that perfect dish.
Entrepreneur Sultan Moni
