Racing robots and solving world problems: UNB hosts annual student entrepreneurship program

The robot races held at the University of New Brunswick on Thursdaywere only part of a much bigger exercise in collaboration and problem-solvingfor a group of 79high school students.

The annual Shadprogramis taking place at the university's Fredericton campusthis month, teaching grade 10 to 12 students from across Canada and abroadabout entrepreneurship and innovation.

This year's theme is reducing thecarbon footprint - in a broad sense,said business faculty professor DanielDoiron, who oversees theentrepreneurialprojects at Shad.

"Shad is really about building up the entrepreneurial spirit in exceptional, young students," he said. "And they come up with some really neat ideas."

Focus on problem-solving

Doiron said once the students arrive at the month-long camp, theyare split into different groups, which then must come up with a problem they want to solve, and build a product or service to fix it.

"Theyhave to build a business plan to launch a business to market that product, they need marketing plans, and websites," he said.

"Finally we bring in some venture capitalists, and they have to pitch their business idea to the venture capitalists. So they do that all in about three-and-a-half weeks."

Student Ethan Guo from Waterloo, Ontario,said he was part of agroup with a focus on agriculture,"working on a way to reduce your carbon footprint by growing your own fruits and vegetables at home."

Another student, 16-year-old Maryam Saleem from Toronto, said she worked on a way to stop people from wasting thefood they have at home.

Saleem added that she'strying to come up with creative ways to attract people's attention, including incorporatingart into her work.

"Right now, we need to solve [world] problems which have never been solved before, so creativity makes it easy to solve these problems," she said.

Exceptional students

Doironadded he's also heard from students who are working on ways of heating shower water before using it.

Another group, last year,developed sensors that sense the enzymes of apples in orchards, so the farmers know when the fruits are ripe, so they"can pickpick them at the right time," he said.

Since its inception in 1980, more than 15,500 students haveparticipated in Shad, with800 accepted to the program each year. UNB is one of the biggesthosts for the program, and one of 13universities in the countries to participate.

Those who apply must be exceptional students in grade 10 to 12, but otherwise the program is open to students from all socio-economic backgrounds, and many of the participants participate ona scholarship, addedDoiron.

"It's not an elite group," he said, adding that one or two groups go to the finals in the fall, the Shad cup, where they get to pitch to venture capitalists with the possibility of winning money, attracting mentors and the opportunity to build their products.