Norman Esch Entrepreneurship Design Pitch
History
Established in November of 2004 by Mr. Esch himself, the Esch Foundation is geared towards Canada’s aspiring engineers. Mr. Norman Edward Blake Esch was a very successful businessman. His passion for lithography lead him to start his own business, Graphic Litho Plate, which became a leader in printing in Toronto. Mr. Esch has also helped many other business bloom just as his did.
However, he was not a man of one passion; he was a man of many. Since he had created a successful business, he became passionate about helping out students in engineering to do the same! Mr. Esch believed that engineering students could be very beneficial for the development of Canada. Thus, he decided to provide them funding through the Norman Esch Entrepreneurship Design Pitch.
How it Works
Teams of students in any Engineering program are required to develop a product/project and explain their objectives to a panel of judges. When the teams are selected and finalized, they have to present their projects in 90 seconds then respond to faculty questions for 4 minutes. For this year, there were 45 teams participating in the Design Pitch which took place in mid March. The winning teams were picked out by a panel of judges from the Conrad center and also other members from the Engineering faculty. The winners were determined based on the innovation, worthiness and business-quality of their projects.
Check out the video below by the University of Waterloo of the Design Pitch in 2015:
Awards
The Winners of the Norman Esch Entrepreneurship Award could receive up to $10,000 each! The lowest award given is $5,000, which is still amazing! A minimum of 6 teams get an award and a select few get to present a business model for their project that could help start up their business!
These awards are all provided by a generous donation from The Esch Foundation.
Teams
One of the teams that made it to finals this year is the Mechatronics team. This team is near and dear to our hearts as we have been following their Project Centaur since the beginning! We are extremely proud of their accomplishments this year! Out of 45 teams, the Mechatronics team made it to the the final 15. They were not winners, however, we know that they tried their best and we are very excited that they got to the finals!
Have you heard about the Norman Esch Entrepreneurship Award? Were you ever a contestant for the award? We’d love to hear from you in the comments below!
Featured:
Waterloo Mechatronics Students at Final Symposium
Mechatronics Team Get Ready for Their Waterloo Symposium
