Venture Makers Innovation Challenge 3 – Net Zero

Launch Pad hosted the third Venture Makers Innovation Challenge on 15 September 2022.

Venture Makers is Launch Pad’s entrepreneurship training and development program for students, researchers and staff designed to build and support an entrepreneurial culture & ecosystem.

The Challenge Question

"How do we stop the climate crisis by accelerating to a net carbon zero economy?"

One of the biggest challenges facing all of our future employers over the next decade is getting to net zero. Nearly every project, every team and every employee are being asked to consider this in all jobs whether it is medicine, law, engineering, creative arts and media, manufacturing or transportation.

Understanding these challenges and how to be part of a team to solve them can be exciting and relevant to future employment prospects. The Accelerating to Net Zero Innovation Challenge put participants in the driver’s seat to solve this problem and develop and communicate innovative ideas. The skills learnt in this challenge would be valuable whether they become an employee for any organisation or choose to become an innovator, inventor or entrepreneur.

Working in teams, participants proposed new ideas and solutions for Accelerating to Net Zero with a human-centric approach that delivers the most benefit to society focusing on the following sectors:

Electrifying Mobility

Active Transportation

Clean Energy

Energy Efficiency

Community Transition

Carbon Offset

Reducing Meat-Based Diets

Emissions Reduction

Reforestation

Green Supply Chain

Circular Economy

Green Finance

The Benefits

Skills learnt throughout the challenge

Soft Skills

1) Entrepreneurial Thinking

2) Problem Hacking

3) Non-verbal Communication skills

4) Radical Open-mindedness

5) Radical Creativity

6) Effective Brainstorming

7) Time Efficiency

8) Radical Empathy

9) Collaboration

Hard Skills

1) Conceptual Design

2) Pitching for Impact

3) Sustainable Development Goals

4) Innovation Hack Canvasing

5) Entrepreneurial Process

6) Sustainable Design

7) Corporate Presentation/Storytelling

Prizes

* all prizes were issued in vouchers

Entrepreneurial thinking

Entrepreneurial Thinking

Non-verbal communication skills

Radical Creativity

Radical Open Mindedness

Time Efficiency

Effective Brainstorming

Radical Empathy

Collaboration

Conceptual Design

Pitching for Impact

Sustainable Development Goals

Innovation Hack Canvasing

Entrepreneurial Process

Sustainable Design

Corporate Presentation/Storytelling

Venture Makers Innovation Challenge 3
Winners

1st Place

Sunergy

Oliver Middleton, Chi Lu, Kimroth Kung, James Honan, Micah Honan

Sunergy’s solution was to create blinds that not only block light out of apartments/houses etc, but blinds that have solar panel on them which absorbs the light it blocks.

2nd Place

Team Energy

Bibhushi Upadhyay, Sabaiyal Khan, Thu Van, Carney Pham, Bradley Judge

The runner’s up idea was to set up a smart meter into households along with solar panels.

3rd Place

Team 11

Paul Mukhin, Andrew Ford, Ke Cheng Zhu, Connor Ambrose, Mary Bul

In third place was Team 11, with their SmartCrate solution which monitors and tracks the status and viability of the food to optimise sustainability.

Industry Partner

Partnering in this Innovation Challenge is Virbela an international leader in the Metaverse space that brings people together to work, learn, meet, and train in an immersive virtual world – from anywhere.

Through the challenge, Virbela provided guest speakers and facilitators building opportunities for students to connect with industry leaders.

Virbela also provided a range of prizes for challenge winners including tickets to major events and personalised career mentoring opportunities.

'Welcome to the Metaverse'

Finalists

The teams worked to conceptualise metaverse solutions in areas such as mental health, diagnostic tools for dementia, therapeutic approaches for treating lower back pain, innovation in retail, marine conservation, immersion, social good, fitness through human-machine integration, and sustainability, with six teams – AquaMeta, Virtualizon, NASA, MemoVerse, The Good Team, and The Three Musketeers – progressing to the final.

Read media release: Venture Makers Innovation Challenge embraces the Metaverse.

Program Details

‘Accelerating to Net Zero’ Innovation Challenge was delivered over a series of key events providing students with opportunities to build industry contacts and practice key skills including ideation, teamwork and pitching.

Info Session

1 September 2022

Online: 12pm-1pm AEST

Innovation Hackathon & Pitch Competition

15 September 2022

Australian Participants (in-person, Parramatta): 10:30am – 8pm AEST

International Participants (online): 11am – 8pm AEST

Program Outline

The Venture Makers Innovation Challenge – Accelerating to Net Zero was a whole-day hackathon event, kicked off at 10.30AM and finished at 8.00PM

See the challenge recap

Come and join for us for future challenges to create the solutions we need today.
Help us to make a positive difference to our communities!

Last Challenge - Welcome to the Metaverse

How Do We Build a Metaverse For Good?

Learn more about how Venture Makers Innovation Challenge embraces the Metaverse.