CRIN Members Pitch Their Innovative Business Solutions as Part of Avatar Ignite

CRIN was proud to support another network last week as participants in Avatar Innovations’ Shark Tank events pitched their innovative solutions to panels of experts.

CRIN supported eight of the participants across different teams as they wrapped up the Avatar Ignite stage of their leadership development program.

Since the program started in February, 200 Ignite participants have worked with multi-functional teams on short timelines.

“Just think about what you can do with these skills and the network that you just built,” Avatar CEO and co-founder Kevin Krausert told attendees.

CRIN-supported participants were part of teams that pitched ideas including smart grid hardware and software linking power generation in remote communities with large consumers to reduce inefficiency. This team came in first place in the category of Grid and Power System Resilience.

The FlexConnect team pitched a platform that aggregates and connects supermarket refrigeration systems across the province, offering their combined capacity as a product in the Alberta Electricity Ancillary Market.

In the Industrial Energy Efficiency category, BioFeed Nexus proposed a company connecting feedstock producers with consumers through an online platform that provides information for sourcing feedstock and verification services.

The Interstitial Energy team, including two CRIN-supported members, took first place in the Hydrogen category. Their business solution consists of an energy storage medium to charge with hydrogen and dispatch energy to offset electrical loads.

The Hyway hydrogen group proposed a partnership with pipeline operators to grant access to their established infrastructure.

On Day 2 of the Shark Tanks, CRIN’s own Debbie Burke cheered on FirePower, the team she has mentored since February. Their business solution captures waste heat from gas turbines and converts it to electricity, then distributes it to customers with a mobile battery fleet.

Day 3 also saw teams with a CRIN-supported member pitch their innovative ideas to experts. Brine Tech proposed a technology that pumps brine water through electrochemical cells to strip C02 from the atmosphere and then store it underground. Their proposal secured first place in their category. CanaDAC’s solution consists of a lab-verified metal-organic absorbent material containing diamine to absorb more C02 and use less energy than competitors.

Congratulations to all the Shark Tank participants! CRIN looks forward to cheering on the participants selected for the next stage of the leadership development program, Avatar Studio.