A total of $15,000 in cash prizes was distributed on Tuesday during a virtual awards ceremony for the 2020 New Hampshire Social Venture Innovation Challenge. The creators of HydroPhos Solutions, a service company that uses filtration technology to extract phosphorus from wastewater treatment plants and resell it to fertilizer companies, won big during the Social Venture Innovation Challenge at UNH on Tuesday.
Congratulations to the 2020 NH Social Venture Innovation Challenge winners!
Judges Awards:
Best Articulated Problem: Scrapp
Scrapp is a free app that combats confusion by using a barcode scanning feature to show you how to correctly recycle common household items.
Mikey Pasciuto, UNH 2021 | Mechanical Engineering and Sustainability Dual Major, minor in Sustainable Energy
Evan Gwynne Davies, UNH 2020 | Civil Engineering
Daniel Marek, UNH 2020 | Civil Engineering
Advisor: Ian Grant, Executive Director, ECenter
Most Original Innovation: Mongo
Mongo is a sustainable plant-based protein derived from organic mung beans. High in protein and low in calories, Mongo is a tasty alternative to the limited plant based options.
Jessica Nelson, UNH 2021 | Business Administration: Entrepreneurial Studies, minors in Sustainable Agriculture & Food Systems and Sales
Advisor: Ian Grant, Executive Director, ECenter
Most Impact Potential: HydroPhos Solutions
HydroPhos Solutions is a service company that addresses eutrophication and phosphorus depletion. We utilize phosphorus filtration technology to extract phosphorus from wastewater treatment plants. We then resell this phosphorus to fertilizer companies, recycling the nutrients and extending the lifespan of our global food supply.
Jason Plant, UNH 2023 | Business Administration: Entrepreneurship & Finance
Daisy Burns, UNH 2024 | Economics with option in Public Policy and Sustainability Dual Major
Matt Oriente, UNH 2023 | Business Administration: ISBA & Sustainability Dual Major
Derek Long, UNH 2023 | Economics
Katie Remeis, UNH 2023 | Business Administration: Accounting and Finance, minor in Environmental Conservation and Sustainability
Advisor: Ian Grant, Executive Director, ECenter
Most Financially Sustainable Solution: Scrapp
Scrapp is a free app that combats confusion by using a barcode scanning feature to show you how to correctly recycle common household items.
Mikey Pasciuto, UNH 2021 | Mechanical Engineering and Sustainability Dual Major, minor in Sustainable Energy
Evan Gwynne Davies, UNH 2020 | Civil Engineering
Daniel Marek, UNH 2020 | Civil Engineering
Advisor: Ian Grant, Executive Director, ECenter
Most Impactful Story to Engage Stakeholders: Plymouth Cares One-stop-Shop
A virtual‚ one-stop-shop‚ that integrates all the resources that satisfy the unmet basic needs of students at Plymouth State University into one place. These basic needs include food, clothing, housing, health insurance, personal hygiene products, and school supplies: laptops, notebooks, binders, pens, and pencils.
Zachary Eastman, Plymouth State University, 2021 | Business Administration
Noah Fiske, Plymouth State University, 2021 | Interdisciplinary Studies, minor in Business Administration
Advisor: Professor Bonnie Bechard
Best First-Year Student Entry: ROOTS
ROOTS is a collaboration website that allows students, staff, and the community to connect with each other and post ideas or solutions to sustainability challenges.
Kaitlin Phair, UNH 2024 | Neuroscience and Behavior
Derek Bobbit, UNH 2024 | Business Administration: Finance and ISBA
Ella Dandrade, UNH 2024 | Bioengineering
Janet Ogunbuyi, UNH 2024| Communication and Environmental Science
Advisor: Ian Grant, Executive Director, ECenter
Audience Choice Awards:
First Place: HydroPhos Solutions
HydroPhos Solutions is a service company that addresses eutrophication and phosphorus depletion. We utilize phosphorus filtration technology to extract phosphorus from wastewater treatment plants. We then resell this phosphorus to fertilizer companies, recycling the nutrients and extending the lifespan of our global food supply.
Jason Plant, UNH 2023 | Business Administration: Entrepreneurship & Finance
Daisy Burns, UNH 2024 | Economics with option in Public Policy and Sustainability Dual Major
Matt Oriente, UNH 2023 | Business Administration: ISBA & Sustainability Dual Major
Derek Long, UNH 2023 | Economics
Katie Remeis, UNH 2023 | Business Administration: Accounting and Finance, minor in Environmental Conservation and Sustainability
Advisor: Ian Grant, Executive Director, ECenter
Second Place: MyGreenPlate
MyGreenPlate is an app that will allow users to track the sustainability status of their food consumption habits and offer positive reinforcement for sustainable eating habits.
Holly Proulx, UNH 2021 | Environmental Engineering
Will Bodewes, UNH 2020 | Mechanical Engineering
Advisor: Ian Grant, Executive Director, ECenter
Third Place: Scrapp
Scrapp is a free app that combats confusion by using a barcode scanning feature to show you how to correctly recycle common household items.
Mikey Pasciuto, UNH 2021 | Mechanical Engineering and Sustainability Dual Major, minor in Sustainable Energy
Evan Gwynne Davies, UNH 2020 | Civil Engineering
Daniel Marek, UNH 2020 | Civil Engineering
Advisor: Ian Grant, Executive Director, ECenter
Read more:
UNH Press release: https://unh.edu/unhtoday/news/release/2020/12/02/unh-announces-winners-2020-social-venture-innovation-challenge
UNH Today (with interviews with winners): https://www.unh.edu/unhtoday/2020/12/challenge-met
UNH students take home thousands in social venture competition
Manchester Union Leader 12/1/2020
By Kimberley Haas Union Leader Correspondent
A total of $15,000 in cash prizes was distributed on Tuesday during a virtual awards ceremony for the 2020 New Hampshire Social Venture Innovation Challenge.
An annual signature program of the University of New Hampshire, the challenge engages aspiring and practicing student social entrepreneurs as they design novel, business-oriented solutions to some of society’s most pressing sustainability challenges.
Submissions to the student challenge were up 50% over last year, with 60 teams entering the competition. Fiona Wilson, deputy chief sustainability officer and director of UNH’s Sustainability Institute, said despite the COVID-19 pandemic and all of the challenges it has brought to students, they are fully engaged and cognizant of pressing issues that need to be addressed.
“They’re saying, ‘All right, this is the time to step up,’” Wilson said. “This generation of students knows about the problems in the world, but they want to be part of the solution.”
Contest organizers changed the format of the challenge this year. They made the decision to sunset the community track to focus on replacing it with a program geared to high school students, which will roll out this spring. There were more categories awarded prizes, which was a decision based on feedback from judges and past contestants, Wilson said.
The Best Articulated Problem award went to the creators of Scrapp, a free app that combats confusion by using a barcode scanning feature to show people how to correctly recycle common household items.
The creators say, on average, people in the United States mistakenly recycle one in four household items, leading to contamination in the chain.
Scrapp’s database already contains over 400,000 products and uses existing GPS services to provide accurate recycling guidance.
Scrapp also won in the category of Most Financially Sustainable Solution and received third place in the Audience Choice Awards.
Creators include Mikey Pasciuto, a senior in mechanical engineering and sustainability, Evan Gwynne Davies and Daniel Marek. Davies and Marek were civil engineering students in the Class of 2020. Pasciuto, Gwynne Davies and Marek earned a total of $5,500.
The creators of HydroPhos Solutions, a service company that uses filtration technology to extract phosphorus from wastewater treatment plants and resells it to fertilizer companies, won Most Impact Potential and first place in the Audience Choice Awards.
Sophomores Jason Plant, Matt Oriente, Derek Long, Katie Remeis and freshman Daisy Burns took home $3,500. All of them are studying business administration or economics.
“Wastewater treatment plants face budgetary challenges to improve aging infrastructure, so we cover the upfront costs associated with the filtration technology in exchange for the phosphorus that’s separated out. This method of sourcing phosphorus reduces the need for mining and therefore the environmental and public health risks associated with it,” Burns said in a video the group submitted.
Other categories included Most Original Innovation, Most Impactful Story to Engage Stakeholders and Best First-Year Student Entry.
The challenge is organized by the UNH Changemaker Collaborative and co-hosted by the Carsey School of Public Policy, the Peter T. Paul College of Business & Economics and the Sustainability Institute.
Major supporters include Timberland, Kennebunk Savings Bank, Prime Buchholz, Cole Haan and CCA Global Partners.
