Euan Pound and team win top prize at Digital Inclusion Challenge
Published: December 11, 2020
First-year Faculty of Arts & Science student Euan Pound – and three high school friends – captured the $10,000 top prize at the recent Digital Inclusion Challenge 2020.
To improve access to mental health resources in remote communities, the Superior Innovations team – named for their former high school – developed a concept for a low-bandwidth video conferencing software called Face to Face. The software records movement from points on a person’s face and transmits that image as an avatar, enabling non-verbal communication between a client and a mental health professional without the bandwidth required by video, says Pound, who studies math and is a member of University College.
Lack of bandwidth prevents health-care providers from doing video consultations with clients who live in northern communities with poor internet service, Pound says. As well, many clients are uncomfortable showing their face on camera.
“We came up with a solution that could fix the problem of low bandwidth in northern communities and provide an alternative for camera-shy clients, while still allowing the caregiver to see expressions and non-verbal cues through the avatar.”
They beat 150 other teams from 30 countries in the Digital Inclusion Challenge, which was judged by a panel of experts including Senator Colin Deacon; Satya Tripathi, the United Nations assistant secretary-general; Kristine McLeod-Semmler, deputy grand chief of the Gwich’in Tribal Council; and Asyia Kazmi, global education policy lead for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
