The Mitacs Entrepreneur Awards are an important opportunity to showcase Mitacs talent and honour some of Canada’s most innovative start-up companies. Recipients are former Mitacs program participants who have gone on to become leading entrepreneurs and business owners in their respective fields.
The ceremony, which occurred on May 18, 2023 at the University of Waterloo, honoured this year’s five award recipients and recognized their efforts to turn their ground-breaking discoveries into innovative businesses that impact the lives of Canadians.
Among the winners is Kevin Kung, a post-doctoral researcher in UBC’s Biomass and Bioenergy Research Group and CTO of Takachar. Kung receives the Environmental Entrepreneur award, for Takachar’s ground-breaking work to improve air quality worldwide by creating a portable system to locally convert crop and forest residues (biomass) into higher value bioproducts, thus giving farmers an environmentally friendly alternative to open-air burning, and foresters a better way to manage flammable forest residue.
“Biomass is a global challenge,” said Kung, noting that more than four billion tonnes of biomass residues are burned globally in open air each year, accounting for as many as 10% of worldwide air pollution deaths. “Our goal is end the practice of burning by turning costly residues into economic commodities.”
Read more about the Mitacs Entrepreneur Awards