MBA students pitch IT venture ideas

Julian Subda (left) explains to UVic Business classmate Nicholas Baingo the NeedleSIGHT project that won his team People’s Choice Award at the second annual UVic MBA business information technology trade show on Feb. 25.

City of Victoria parks and recreation workers collect about 200 needles per week. Reducing the risk of accidental needle pokes inspired UVic MBA students Mustafa Ahmed, Robert Kania, Graham Moxon, Yamile Saleh and Julian Subda to create a solution that won them the People’s Choice Award at this year’s UVic BizIT trade show. Their solution involved small radio frequency identification (RFID) chips embedded in syringes and an RFID reader that can be used to locate and retrieve the used needles in a safe manner.

The BizIT trade show showcased projects designed to support public sector organizations. In addition to NeedleSIGHT, other potential ventures were an interactive city guide, a digital tourism guide to Vancouver Island, a real-time bus schedule delivered to mobile devices, an emergency alert system for remote locations, and an elder Wii fitness program to improve the quality of life for seniors.