On Sep. 28, 2023, students, faculty, and sponsors gathered at the McGill Engine Centre—a Faculty of Engineering hub dedicated to supporting McGill’s technological innovators and entrepreneurs.
The TechAccel Showcase spotlighted a total of 11 student teams from both the Winter and Summer 2023 cohorts. As one of McGill Engine’s key experiential learning programs, TechAccel encourages and supports student startups, providing one-on-one business mentorship, project grants, community events, and more.
During her opening remarks, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, Viviane Yargeau, reflected on the program’s successes.
“Since the start of the TechAccel program, […] over $224,000 in funding has been distributed by the Faculty of Engineering Innovation Fund to support students in early stage ventures, and over 200 students have been trained and 40 per cent [of the benefitted students] are from faculties other than the Faculty of Engineering,” Yargeau said. “And that’s something that I’m very proud of because I strongly believe in multidisciplinary approaches to the work that we do.”
Ranging from software development consultancy to sustainable, iron-based energy storage solutions, the pitches at the TechAccel Showcase exemplified the interdisciplinary ventures that McGill students spearhead.
One of the many groundbreaking technological designs came from Fulcra—a startup focused on orthotic devices to mitigate chronic lower back pain, the leading musculoskeletal issue worldwide.
“In the market, there is currently nothing available for chronic lower back pain. All of these cases and studies have proven that they develop patient dependencies and increase injury occurrences when you remove [back braces]. Now, heavy lifting, strenuous activities, and labour-intensive jobs are all causes of back pain, and all the current solutions are not appropriate for these situations,” Maria Calderbank, U4 Mechanical Engineering and one of the four co-founders, said during Fulcra’s pitch.
Fulcra, in response, designed a unique orthotic device that boasts the advantages of both a corset and an exoskeleton, drawing upon abdominal pressure to stabilize the spine and consequently reduce lower back pain without the restrictiveness or bulk. By applying this pressure during strenuous movements only, like heavy lifting, their device is more sustainable through wear and tear, making it suitable for chronic cases.
The innovations at the TechAccel showcase did not stop at Fulcra’s award-winning orthotic device. Reeva Tech Solutions, a startup in IT system custom software development, also pitched its first product, Sterilization DB.
“The problem that Sterilization DB is trying to solve is the limited amount of medical device tracking that is happening in medical clinics of Quebec. This is a problem because the government of Quebec is following suit with the governments of Ontario, Alberta, and British Columbia to develop new laws regarding the mandate of sterilization tracking,” Reeva’s founder and CEO Roko Baljak, U2 Science, said during his pitch.
Baljak noted that medical device tracking is currently tedious, if not outdated. To track equipment, clinics label it with printed QR codes—undergoing a slow, costly process as they are often required to track over 200 devices per day.
“Sterilization DB is a software and hardware kit that allows medical professionals to track sterilization and usage of medical equipment quickly and simply. We feature a very simple user interface (UI) and all the data that we collect are stored on the premises at the clinic, which makes it very secure,” Baljak said.
Another significant advantage of this product lies in its compatibility with existing patient management software in Quebec. The current patient record system could easily incorporate Sterilization DB, thus facilitating the tracking of all the medical equipment used during a patient’s visit along with their medical records.
As the various TechAccel teams continue improving their designs and developing their business ventures, the McGill Engine continues its instrumental work in fostering innovative technologies. On Nov. 30, they will be hosting their ninth annual Celebration of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, bringing together students, faculty, investors, and alumni to highlight emerging technologically-based startups at McGill.
