A group of young innovators gathered this month at the Platform Innovation Centre in Calgary to pitch market-ready solutions which aim to address the escalating water issues facing the Prairies, with teams taking home more than $35,000 in seed funding prizes.
“The Prairies are facing unprecedented water challenges,” explains Soula Chronopoulos, President of AquaAction.
The Dragon’s Den–style finale marked the culmination of an eight-month journey during which entrepreneurs received expert coaching, mentorship, and peer collaboration to accelerate ideas into viable solutions ready for real-world deployment through the AquaHacking Prairies Challenge.
Consilience won $20K for its Drift-Eye Swarm solution, which is reshaping how we detect and respond to invasive species, offering a fresh and accessible approach to continuous aquatic monitoring.
“These young innovators represent the future of how we will overcome these challenges through cutting-edge innovation and secure our precious freshwater resources,” Chronopoulos remarked of the winners.
Second prize ($10K) went to Purus Aqua, developers of a passive filtration system designed to sit in prairie trenches and capture contaminants from runoff and snowmelt, acting as a small-scale, low-maintenance solution to supports sustainable agriculture by improving water quality and reducing pollution entering local waterways.
In third place ($5K), Reverbio developed a solution that uses bio-acoustic underwater monitoring combined with AI to listen for the unique sound “fingerprints” of invasive species like Prussian Carp, goldfish, and zebra mussels.
NAID Solutions won $1K for learning People’s Choice Award for a web-based app that transforms local knowledge and real-time community reports into verified, geolocated evidence on an interactive map.
“Congratulations to all the finalists for your care and commitment to building the change we want to see,” Chronopoulos stated.
The event was supported by Alberta Innovates, Prairies Economic Development Canada, and the Centre for Indigenous Environmental Resources.
“Congratulations to all the finalists of the AquaHacking Prairies Program 2025,” commented Vicki Lightbown, who serves as Executive Director of Environmental Innovation at Alberta Innovates. “We’re eager to see these ideas put into action and deliver tangible benefits for our environment and communities.”
The Prairies AquaHacking Challenge is supported by the de Gaspé Beaubien Foundation, RBC, Ovivo, Alberta Innovates, Canada Water Agency, and Prairies Economic Development Canada.
Through its flagship programs, including AquaHacking, AquaAction has catalyzed the launch of over 120 water tech enterprises.
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