RBC EPIC business Model Canvas Competition Awards Smart Parking Solution Liscena

A smart parking solution won the $10,000 grand prize in RBC EPIC Business Model Canvas Competition, hosted by the Entrepreneurship Practice and Innovation Center (EPICenter). EPICenter, based at the University of Windsor, Ontario, provides experiential entrepreneurial learning opportunities and skills, tools, and network to entrepreneurs and professionals to launch and grow their startups.

The winning company, Liscena, was created by two students, Hao Sheng and Kyle Bimm, from the University of Toronto. It uses the latest in Computer Vision and Automatic License Plate Recognition (ALPR) and smart cameras that recognize when cars enter and exit and payment for parking is done automatically from the driver’s phone.

Liscena will also receive six months of dedicated desk space at EPICentre in the Joyce Entrepreneurship Center, consulting services from KPMG, and an entrance in the national Canada Business Model Competition

Other finalist and semi-finalists in the competition also demonstrated smart city solutions:

  • SWTCH, provides electric vehicle (EV) charging management solutions. Their software streamlines the charging process between EV charger providers and EV drivers, with the aim of improving EV charging accessibility, reduce driver range anxiety, and promote the widespread adoption of EVs;
  • Fr8 Living Solutions is a net-zero energy modular building company that uses shipping containers, modular technology, and off-grid systems to produce highly efficient and affordable housing;
  • BOTTLEBOT is an innovative approach to plastic recycling;
  • Growing Green manufactures and distributes hydroponic growing systems for urban farming; and,
  • HYC hybridizes the present cars on the road in order to reduce fuel consumption and pollution.