UNB startup partners with NB Power on a pilot project to better understand consumers energy behaviours
Author: Communications
Posted on Sep 23, 2015
Category: UNB Fredericton , UNB Saint John
SimpTek Technologies has partnered with NB Power on a project that will deliver insight into the energy behaviours of New Brunswick consumers. The $15,000 agreement is set to launch this fall and will collect real-time data from up to 150 homes.
SimpTek Technologies helps electric utility companies better engage, understand and predict energy usage from their customers.
Cofounders Keelan Gagnon, Lionel Fernandes and Asif Hasan are University of New Brunswick (UNB) graduates who took part in the J. Herbert Smith Centre’s Technology Management and Entrepreneurship Program (TME) and were supported by the Faculty of Business’ Activator program, managed by UNB’s International Business and Entrepreneurship Centre. SimpTek Technologies’ lead developer, Kolton Gagnon, is a current student at UNB in the faculty of computer science.
“TME was the stepping stone to our success,” said Asif Hasan, CEO of SimpTek Technologies. “That’s the place where I started my entrepreneurial journey and I am still implementing every single experience that I acquired from that program. Building the right team, developing entrepreneurial skills, converting an idea to reality and learning to commercialize a product. All these [skills] were introduced to me and my team at this program.
UNB was named Post-Secondary Institution of the Year by Startup Canada in June 2014 and has become known for its success in entrepreneurship and innovation, boasting 23 startups in the last two years.
TME is dedicated to cultivating new ideas, creative thinking and entrepreneurial spirit in the ever-changing world of technology. The program offers its students tools to help them succeed no matter what path they may choose to follow. The experiential nature of the courses allows instructors to guide students to solve problems, create opportunities and mentor them to pursue them.
“It’s a perfect place to build and validate your business idea as you have all the resources to make your idea into reality,” said Hasan.
In March 2015, SimpTek Technologies received first runner up in the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation’s Breakthru competition, earning $220,000 in cash and professional services. The team also won the CBC Viewer’s Choice Award, which provided them the opportunity to pitch their idea on CBC’s Dragon’s Den. You can see them on season 10.
Media Contact: Claire Geldart