Corner Brook, NL – March 2025 — From March 7–9, 2025, the fourth econext Clean Growth Ideathon challenged students at Grenfell Campus, Memorial University, to tackle one of Newfoundland and Labrador’s most pressing sustainability issues: transportation.
With a focus on sustainability and efficiency, the event brought together students from diverse academic backgrounds. In just 48 hours, five teams worked to answer the question: How can Newfoundland and Labrador improve transportation sustainability and efficiency?
“Transportation is the biggest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions in our province,” said Alex Rumbolt, Business Sustainability Lead with econext. “Through this ideathon, we gave students the platform to create real, actionable ideas—and they stepped up in a big way.”
Participants took part in workshops and received one-on-one mentorship throughout the weekend, helping turn early-stage ideas into well-rounded, innovative pitches. A panel of judges evaluated the final presentations on criteria including sustainability, impact, and feasibility.
First Place Winners
The top prize was awarded to Big Green Energy (Beth Skeard, Jocelyne Roberts, Janelle Vallis, Joni Hoffrén), whose winning idea proposed a fleet of electric hybrid bike rentals for Corner Brook’s unique geography. Their plan emphasized improving accessibility, reducing emissions, and encouraging active transportation in the city.
Second Place Winners
Team CAS (Blessing Adedokun-Awojodu, Chinwe Nzekwe) earned second place for their redesign of the Corner Brook bus system. Their concept focused on route optimization, service electrification, and data-informed scheduling to enhance efficiency and ridership.
Third Place Winners
In third place, Unstoppable (Soham Savant, Amna Chohan) pitched an initiative to introduce hydrogen fuel cell technology into the province’s transport trucking sector—an approach aimed at cutting emissions in one of the most carbon-intensive industries.
“The energy and talent these students brought to the table was incredible,” said Chelsea Linfield, Project Finance Manager with econext. “Their ideas show the kind of leadership we need for the future of greener transportation in Newfoundland and Labrador.”
econext extends sincere thanks to all its partners, mentors and judges who helped make the fourth ideathon a success. econext would also like to especially thank its sponsor, takeCHARGE NL, for supporting this event and helping students learn more about the green economy.
This ideathon was made possible through partnership with the Business + Higher Education Roundtable (BHER), and with support from the Government of Canada.
For information on future ideathons or partnership opportunities, please contact:
Chelsea Linfield – chelsea@econext.ca
Alex Rumbolt – alex@econext.ca
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About econext
econext is a not-for-profit association with a mission to accelerate clean growth in Newfoundland and Labrador by: (1) stimulating research, development, and innovation; (2) preparing its workforce for a greening economy; and (3) acting as a catalyst for climate change action within its industries, businesses, and communities. econext has been working for over 30 years on behalf of its members across many sectors to support environmentally sustainable economic development. More information can be found at https://econext.ca.
About BHER
The Business + Higher Education Roundtable (BHER) is a non-profit, non-partisan organization that brings together Canada’s top businesses and post-secondary institutions. BHER works to strengthen partnerships, expand work-integrated learning opportunities, and drive innovation. Learn more at www.bher.ca.
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