The conception of this year’s QGEM project was solely based around the consumer. With our project, we hope to provide some relief to Indigenous communities across Canada who do not have access to clean drinking water. We had many discussions with representatives from a variety of Indigenous communities throughout the duration of our project. Their opinion and views quickly shaped the way we approached our prototypes. Please see the Human Practices section of our wiki for more details on how these representatives shaped our project.
During the summer months, QGEM also met with the Dunin-Deshpande Queen’s Innovation Centre (DDQIC) at our university. The DDQIC runs a program called QYourVenture, in which experts help guide students through their entrepreneurial journey. Meeting with the QYourVenture team created great conversations about the implementation and industrialization of our project. From these conversations we were able to examine our project from the perspective of both a consumer and a producer. These pointers helped us streamline our device to establish what aspects of our prototype needed to become more user-friendly compared to what aspects of our product needed to become easier to reproduce.
From an educational standpoint, our team felt as though there are not a lot of accessible resources for science students to learn about how they can become entrepreneurs. Thus, QGEM felt as though it was our duty to create an educational resource for students to learn about financial literacy. Our handbook includes important definitions, business tips, investor relations, and other resources. Hopefully, this handbook can be passed along to future QGEM students to improve upon each year. Due to its educational nature, this initiative is also included in our Sustainable Outreach Program.
