The University of Windsor is collaborating for the fourth straight year with Western University, University of Guelph, McMaster University, and the University of Waterloo on the Proteus Innovation Competition.

The three-part reverse business pitch competition challenges participants to create a commercialization plan for one of five technologies developed by researchers at these Ontario institutions. Teams have the chance to win one of five $5,000 prizes and be involved in the further commercialization of the technology including a possible spin-off company.

This year, the University of Windsor has put forward professor Bill Altenhof’s patented technology “Kinetic Energy Dissipation System.” Stemming from the Department of Mechanical, Automotive and Materials Engineering, Dr. Altenhof’s invention is a system designed for energy dissipation in a broad range of applications such as in vehicle crashes, military explosions, and fall arrest systems.

It is composed of a steel wheel with spoke-like blades as a cutting unit and a customized cylindrical sacrificial tube. The cutting unit will slice through the customized sacrificial tube during impact to provide stable and controllable energy dissipation resulting in efficient, uniform, and precise energy absorption capabilities that out-performs the current state-of-the-art energy dissipation systems.

The other technologies will be presented during the virtual launch event and will be posted on the competition website afterwards.

Students from all faculties are encouraged to register and submit their business plans for any of the five technologies available as part of the competition. It is an excellent opportunity for anyone interested in innovative technologies and their intersection with business.

Learn more about the competition and technologies at the Proteus launch, a webinar on Zoom from 4 to 6 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 10.

For more information, and to register a team, visit www.proteusic.com or contact Tina Suntres, Windsor lead at Tina.Suntres@uwindsor.ca.