The MAKO Student Innovation Award celebrates innovative product design coming out of Ryerson University’s Zone Learning ecosystem developed by dedicated innovators who are working towards bringing their product design to market. This annual award presents the winning recipients with $10,500 to assist them in transforming their ideas and prototypes into reality and successful businesses.
The Judging Panel and Criteria
This year the participants were judged by a panel of influential judges who occupy prominent roles in the product design space, including Jim Marotta, the VP of Project Development at Kubik, Jim Uzbalis, Digital Sales & Marketing at 3M, and more. The judges evaluated the young designers on:
- Innovation in product design and concept
- Marketability and commercialization
- Business model
- Social impact
Applicants were shortlisted to a group of finalists earlier this year, and finalists were invited to present in front of the selection committee. The committee then attended the adjudication event, watched all the presentations, and made their final selection based on the above criteria.
About The Winner: Genecis Bioindustries
The winner of the 2019 MAKO Student Innovation Award was Genecis Bioindustries. Their mission is to make premium chemicals and materials accessible. They are commercializing their first product line of high-quality biodegradable plastic that is used to make thermo-resistant packaging, compostable coffee pods, and 3D printing filaments.
By developing a platform that uses organic waste as the feedstock (aka the raw material used to supply/fuel a machine or industrial process), Genecis is dramatically reducing the cost of production making products.
The process in which Genecis is making magic happen while helping the planet’s waste problem is to first look at the cost in the revenue stream. Current manufacturers of PHAs plastics use sugars derived from food crops such as corn or sugarcane as feedstock. Genecis Bioindustries turns the cost into a revenue stream by using organic waste from waste companies, providing a destination for organic waste that is on par with landfill costs.
Next, this bright team of innovators looks at what they like to call Unique Bacteria Cocktails. They do this by leveraging engineering principles and systemic biology to create culture cocktails of new bacterial species, which evolve for higher yields, greater efficiencies, and shock resilience.
If you have an invention idea, we would love to hear from you! Click here to schedule an appointment with our product design strategists. We look forward to taking your invention idea to store shelves!
About: MAKO Design + Invent is the original firm providing world-class consumer product development services tailored to startups, small manufacturers, and inventors. Simply put, we are the leading one-stop-shop for developing your physical product from idea to store shelves, all in a high-quality, cost-effective, and timely manner. We operate as one powerhouse 30-person product design team spread across 4 offices to serve you (Austin, Miami, San Francisco, & Toronto). We have full-stack in-house industrial design, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, patent referral, prototyping, and manufacturing services. To assist our startup and inventor clients, in addition to above, we help with business strategy, product strategy, marketing, and sales/distribution for all consumer product categories. Also, our founder Kevin Mako hosts The Product Startup Podcast, the industry's leading hardware podcast. Check it out for tips, interviews, and best practices for hardware startups, inventors, and product developers. Click HERE to learn more about MAKO Design + Invent!
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