Team:CTR Alberta Canada/Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship for Oxybegone

Our team has displayed entrepreneurship success as we have created a way to measure the concentration of oxybenzone at a cheaper and more efficient way of testing. The original method of testing costs almost $500 CAD and wasn’t able to be tested on site, with limitations on temperature, pH, and could rarely work with sea water. The original method was too cost and time expensive, and there was Whereas our project can be used to locate results on site and costs about $20 USD per test, after the purchase of the hardware. Our project can test in temperatures of 0-40 C and can work in a pH range of 4-10. Our project also works with saltwater and water with other solids in it. Our project is a vastly more efficient method to test the oxybenzone concentration within a body of water.

Business Model Canvas For Oxybegone

• Key Partners

  Our key partners are FREDsense technologies, who we are partnering with to convert our design into a viable product. Specifically, we worked with Robert Mayall and Emily Hicks to create the parts for our plasmid design. Additional key partners are municipal water treatment professionals, environmental researchers, and health professionals.
  

• Key resources

  There is a need for further research to illustrate oxybenzone’s capability to act as an endocrine disruptor and bind to the hER. Another key resource required is the structure of the GEM protein for use in modelling software such as modeling software such as PyMOL. This will help develop 3D models of our project that can be used to measure the binding affinity of oxybenzone and other endocrine disruptors. Manufacturing of yeast test cartridges and supplies will be ongoing.
  

• Key activities

  Our key activities include working closely with FREDsense to communicate, develop and manufacture our oxybegone tool. Maintaining customer relations through transparency is also vital. In addition, effective sales and marketing of our design is necessary.
  

• Value Propositions

  Our central value proposition is to provide an effective and affordable test of concentrations of oxybenzone in aquatic ecosystems. Companies will be able to purchase an affordable oxybenzone device to measure concentrations of the compound within bodies of water. Globally, the implementation of chemical detecting devices will allow for increased awareness of water quality that will improve health conditions of society, as chemical compounds such as oxybenzone are tied to dire consequences on human health. In addition, companies actively implementing a way to measure water and ecosystem health helps build brand reputation in an evolving culture in which companies that actively promote sustainable practices are profoundly attractive to consumers. In addition, the device is versatile as it works in any turbidity due to the device utilizing electricity instead of colour to allow the presence of oxybenzone to be analyzed and measured.
  

• Cost Structure

  Costs inherent to oxybegone include production costs, which will include genetic engineering of our bacteria, licensing costs, and marketing costs.
  

• Revenue Streams

  Our central revenue stream is through different companies purchasing our device. FREDsense will receive revenue from the initial kit, and we would receive constant cartridge revenue for a cost of around 20 dollars/cartridge.
  

• Customer Relationships

  To maintain positive customer relations, we will be easily reached to answer questions from companies in regards to the usage and maintenance of the oxybegone detector. This will include a strong component of public education of environmental contaminants. We will also provide a platform in which the companies can leave reviews of our device and provide feedback.
  

Entrepreneurship for CO₂ Easy

In regards to our sustainability event planning app, CO₂ EASY, we have designed a business model canvas to document our business plans for our project.

Our team started out by deciding who our target users are. We decided that our app would be targeted to two main groups of people, event planners and attendees. We provide value to the event planners by increasing their awareness of the CO₂ emissions that their company/organization is causing and we give them an opportunity to build brand reputation. Utilizing CO₂ EASY provides evidence of a company implementing sustainable practices, in a society where sustainable development in companies is an incredibly attractive facet to consumers.

For the attendees, they will also be provided accessible education on their CO₂ emissions, as well as simple ways to decrease this amount. Our offsetting guide and sustainable facilities guide will give our users direction on how they can reduce their emissions from travelling to events in the future.

Business Model Canvas For CO₂ Easy

• Key Partners

  Our key partners are sustainable organizations, sustainable hotels and restaurants, environmentally conscious event planners, and Nikhil Sonpal. Data was collected from iGEM 2019 jamboree and we received mentorship from Nikhil Sonpal when developing the app.
  

• Key resources

  Key resources that we need is programming proficiency to design a simple and efficient application. Distribution channels include app store, application host platform and social media marketing strategies.
  

• Key activities

  Key activities that our value proposition requires is making application/app as simple to understand and use as possible, and adding a point system for incentivization, later on in the application’s development. Customer relationships include being very transparent about the progression of our app and the changes we are making, and to listen and consider customer advice or concern about a function within our app.
  

• Value propositions

  Our value propositions have been developed for event planners and attendees. Event hosts are able to take sustainable action and implement sustainable practices that attract consumers willing to create environmental change. When event hosts use this app, their events will be able to increase in reputation and add to their values as a company. Through our app hosts are able to attain information on the emissions their event generates per meeting. Attendees are able to easily access information about CO₂ emissions and become educated on ways to offset and decreased their calculated amounts. Through CO₂ easy, Attendees are able to find reputable offsetting companies they are able to donate to inorder to offset, as well as sustainable hotels and restaurants they can utilize throughout their travels.
  

• Cost Structure

  The most important costs inherent in our business model is putting our app on the app store, setting up our application on a host platform and advertising. Key resources that are most expensive are the costs associated with codecademy, if we take certain lessons to become more proficient in programming and perhaps any other forms of outside help to develop our app.
  

• Revenue Streams

  Events and attendees are willing to pay to use CO₂ easy as hosts are willing to pay for resources that make their events sustainable and promote offsetting, and attendees are able to find value in the suggested transportation and offsetting companies they may want to look further into to buy products directly from.
  

• Customer Relationships

  We need healthy relationships that need to exist for our Customer segments to have a healthy understanding between hosts, attendees, and us. For both hosts and attendees; we should be easily reachable with any questions they may have and can occasionally collect data about their satisfaction with CO₂ easy.
  
  

We have also pitched our project during the Tech Futures Challenge to receive mentorship and input for both coding and further developing our business model canvas. During this challenge, we met the CEO of mobility quotient, Nikhil Sonpal, who has been mentoring us, giving us valuable insight as an experienced and successful individual in the tech industry.

Another mentor was a youth and program coordinator at AYLEE, Shauna Kelly, who believed that this app could have a wide-reaching impact on increasing sustainability. Due to its accessibility for a typical event attendee (i.e. someone who has a phone) and its ease of use. And that she believes there will be a lot of organizations/companies making use of this app for their event and as a result, a lot of people are becoming more aware of the carbon footprint of travel and events. She believes that our app will address the issue of carbon accounting information, as this information isn’t the most accessible for public use, especially for educators who don't have time to learn how to be a carbon accountant, and that apps like these can be a great learning tool. Shauna also gave advice about how to include event planners, and other ways that they can reduce the carbon footprint of their event; to include both organizers and event planners within offsetting. She also said that basic information about the carbon footprint calculations and advised us that the first step should always be to reduce your footprint before purchasing offsets.

Software

We iterated through software cycles towards a minimum viable prototype. Please visit our Software page for a full description.

Software