(Note this story has been corrected by ExitEvent: A previous version of story incorrectly stated that Canopy Scientific took the grand prize. The grand prize winner was Seal the Seasons.)
Several university teams and one high school team took home $100,000 in prizes from an innovation contest put on by the Emerging Issues Forum and the State Employees Credit Union. Top prize went to a team at UNC-Chapel Hill.
ExitEvent provides the details on the winners:
SECU Emerging Issues Prize for Innovation
- Grand Prize: Seal the Seasons, the brainchild of a pair of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill students, collects blemished produce from farms and cuts the good parts into pieces which are then packaged, frozen and sold to consumers.
- Runner-up: Canopy Scientific of Duke University won $50,000 for its system and technology (satellite imagery and drones) to more effectively measure forest carbon for landowners seeking incentives for preserving forests on their land.
- Fan Favorite: The Ellerbe Creek Litter Trap team from Duke Engineers for International Development hopes to develop a cost-effective trap to collect litter from creeks to prevent it from entering important water ways.
- Fan Favorite: FreshSpire is a mobile app designed to help grocers notify consumers when prices are marked down on food nearing expiration. The team of students from NC State University, the UNC-Chapel Hill and East Carolina University have a mission to eliminate food waste from grocery stores.
- High School Prize for Innovation: Bye-stander is a mobile app for students to discretely report bullying at school, by students at East Carteret High School.
- Plus: The North Carolina School of Science and Math won the Spaces for Innovation Challenge.
For videos featuring the winners and more details, visit ExitEvent at: http://exitevent.com/article/these-student-projects-won-statewide-emerging-innovation-prizes-150210
