Hydroponic concept wins Wege Prize, continues to move forward

Team FusionGRow, which is comprised of a "transcollegiate" group of students -- Jacob Czarniecki (GVSU), Aziza Ahmadi (GVSU), Yulia Conley (GVSU), Eric Choike (KCAD) and Philip Han (KCAD) -- were the winners of the inaugural Wege Prize held in early March 2014. The winning team shared the award of $15,000.

Czarniecki describes FusionGRow as a hydroponics system that "empowers people to take a more active role in healthy living by growing their own produce anywhere." Czarniecki says the team was focused on creating a system that was "affordable, accessible and aesthetically pleasing." 

The Wege Prize was created in collaboration between Kendall College and the Wege Foundation. It is an annual design competition that is focused on solving "wicked problems." The challenge for 2014 was to "design a product, service, or business model that can function within and help create a paradigm shift towards a circular economic model."

Moving forward, the team is focused on getting assistance in prototyping. "No one has experience in product development but there are many mentors helping to further the idea along and helping us find exactly the best materials to use," says Czarniecki.

The team, which had never worked together prior to the Wege Prize, recently participated in the MWest Challenge and will be looking for other opportunities to raise funds for business development.

To view the business concept, you can visit the link here.

Writer: John Rumery, Innovation and Jobs News Editor