Four local students are among the 800 from across Canada taking part in one of the country’s top incubators for youth innovation and entrepreneurship.

It’s called SHAD and President and CEO Tim Jackson says this year the students are being challenged to come up with new ideas for Canadians to reduce their energy footprints.

“Canada clearly has a strong track record when it comes to the environment, however our annual energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions are amongst the highest in the world, so we thought here is a real, great problem to give to these incredibly bright students,” he says.

The students spend the month of July at a Canadian University campus taking in lectures, workshops and more.

“They’re going to be taught how do you tackle a problem, how do you experiment, how do you modify your thinking and ultimately by the time they get to the end of the month each of them will be part of a team that will have a prototype of some solution, “ he says.

Jackson adds, “that summer program is really the start of their journey with SHAD. Once they finish they become part of a network of now 16,000 alumni.”

Locally, Algonquin’s Xavier Prinja (SHAD Campus at McMaster University), Chippewa’s Will Fraser (SHAD Campus at Western University), St-Joseph-Scollard Hall’s Matthew McParland (SHAD Campus at University of Waterloo) and Widdifield’s Marcus Hlady (SHAD Campus at Dalhousie University) are involved.

Filed under: @SHADNetwork