The winners of Post-COVID, a virtual competition launched in April by Bonjour Startup Montréal, Desjardins, and Google Canada, have been announced. The competition was aimed to find innovative solutions to societal issues resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic in Québec.
The competition was aimed to find innovative solutions to issues resulting from the pandemic in Québec.
Every project had to respond to a “real need” in one of the three areas affected by the pandemic: healthcare, education, and employment. For each of these areas, only one winner was selected. Each winning team will receive prizes valued at over $100,000, including customized coaching and workshops, mentoring, workspaces at the Notman House and access to a variety of Google services.
Finalists had to successfully complete all three phases of the competition, including writing a business plan, prototyping their projects with the help of industry experts, and pitching their project to a panel of experts. The winners will go on to continue developing their projects with the help of entrepreneurs and experts.
Education challenge winner: PingLit
Submitted by Justine Gagnepain, a web developer and UX Designer, and Emmanuelle Germain, a professor of literature, PingLit is a platform that uses educational innovations to make reading more fun and encourage students to read by letting them create “virtual libraries.”
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Healthcare challenge winner: Portail Résidence
Co-founded in 2018 by Simon Bélanger and Jonathan Chirwa, Portail Résidence is an online platform for private seniors’ residences in Québec. The platform allows people to find the best possible living environment for seniors.
Employment and social solidarity challenge winner: EnLigne
Created by Alexandre Ratthé and Ubisoft developers Brian McWilliams and Mariya Zinchenko, EnLigne is a mobile application that creates virtual lineups for neighbourhood stores, so customers can save their spots without worrying about physical distancing.
Some of the panel experts that selected the three winning projects include Fab Dolan, head of marketing at Google Canada, Bruno Morency, managing director of Techstars Montréal AI, and Stéphanie Jecrois, co-founder of Technovation Montréal.
Other collaborators on the project include Founder Fuel, the Government of Québec, InVivo, Montréal NewTech, OSMO Innovation, and Real Ventures, among others.
Image source Unsplash. Photo by SJ Objio.