Congratulation to Masters student Hossein Sarshar and Research Assistant Pedram Adibi from the Institute for Big Data Analytics, and their colleague, Dalhousie alumnus Mehran Zamani, who, as Team Sol-Ops, won first prize in the Smart Energy Apps Challenge sponsored by Innovacorp, HRM, NSCC, Shiftkey Labs and Dalhousie University. The challenge was to create an app which made use of the data collected by Halifax Solar City on a number of parameters relating to installed solar hot water systems. Team Sol-Ops created an app which made use of techniques of computer science, data science and engineering to provide customers with an analysis of their usage of hot water, and recommendations for changing that behaviour to maximize the environmental and economic benefits they could receive from their systems. It took 6 weeks to create the winning app, beating 10 other teams and claiming the $6000 first prize. Success in the competition may also be the stepping stone to other opportunities as the team finds themselves in conversations with investors and other organizations who are taking in interest in the commercial potential of their creation.
Date:
November 16, 2015