The SIP Project

Summary:

The Safety in Purity Project (SIP) was founded from a course project in a first year design class: Sustainable Engineering Design. The project was developing a hybrid-social enterprise for the design, manufacturing, production, and commercialization of energy-free gravity filtration backpacks.

The SIP backpack was designed for commissioning in disaster response for humanitarian causes across the globe. After the SIP team won CAD 30,000 in funding from placing First in the Western AquaHacking Competition, we partnered with Canadian Tire to conduct customer discovery, competition analyses, and product design.

The system comprised of a three-tier water filtation system integrated into a 70L backpacking backpack with a large water bladder. As the backpack is being carried or hung, it would provide a continuous supply of tasteless, clear, and decontaminated water for drinking, cooking, and cleaning.

The SIP team conducted hundreds of interviews with disaster response volunteers (including executives from the United Nations), and partnered with a non-profit organization that fundraised and sent professional engineering volunteers to remote communities in need of restoration services.

Ultimately, after two years of operation the SIP team comprised of only a few members that became geographically dispersed. The team could no longer conduct normal operations and the company was disbanded. However, this was not without providing a deep learning opportunity, getting comfortable with iteration, and with hearing the word 'no' after pitching to investment firms.

Skills Practiced and Learned

Category	Skill	Details
Technical Skills	User-Centered Product Design	Designed energy-efficient filtration systems for humanitarian needs and disaster circumstances. Iterated prototypes based on user-feedback and testing results. Incorporated high-scale production principles from mentorship from Canadian Tire design engineers. 3D printing of parts and components for prototypes.
Soft Skills	Leadership and Confidence	Led as Team Captain and Co-CEO,managing progress and team dynamics. Built resilience and confidence through pitching and continuous handling of rejection. Fostered professional relationships through effective networking strategies.

My Role:

As mentioned above, this team and project was originally a part of a course called "APSC 169: Sustainable Engineering Design." After serving as the team captain throughout the duration of the course, the team was encouraged to submit our project into several funding opportunities and competitions. The first included the IEI Fund from the UBCO School of Engineering, of which we received $5,000 CAD shortly before deciding to start a company.

Afterwards, I served as Co-Cheif Executive Officer alongside my peer, Elana Wood. Upon placing first in the Western AquaHacking Challenge, we won an additional $30,000 in funding as well as places in several entrepreneurship incubators.

While taking part in these incubators, we conducted customer discovery and iterated designs of our product dozens of times. We cold-called organizations, individuals, and leaders in industry until solidifying a partnership with Canadian Tire. With the support of their design engineers, we were mentored on how to produce relationships with manufacturers and design with high-scale production in mind.

My role in all of this was to become an expert at everything: pitching the idea, presenting, designing with social needs in mind, learning how to incorporate a company, manage funds, and be a leader. Despite this product never commercializing, it remains one of the projects I am most proud of today.