On February 5 in Calgary, Alberta, a group of young innovators gathered at the Platform Innovation Centre to pitch market-ready solutions to prairie-related water issues. As a result, the top teams took home more than $35,000 in seed funding.

CIER co-hosted the AquaHacking Prairies program with partners AquaAction and Alberta Innovates over the past year. 

The AquaHacking Prairies Challenge brought the competition to Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. The prairies are home to some of the most crucial and complex freshwater systems in North America, yet the region faces significant challenges and threats, such as wetland loss, agriculture fertilizer run-off, water contamination, and habitat degradation.

To address these issues, it is essential to work with First Nations, Inuit, and Métis communities and experts, the stewards of these lands. Indigenous peoples are able to share the knowledge and practices that will lead to sustainability for future generations. The competition emphasized the need to work with Indigenous groups and leaders and incorporate Indigenous Knowledge in order to drive positive change.

The Dragon’s Den–style event finale marked the culmination of a transformative eight-month journey, during which aspiring entrepreneurs received expert coaching, mentorship, and peer collaboration to accelerate their ideas into viable solutions ready for real-world deployment through the AquaHacking Prairies Challenge.

In total, five projects were presented to address critical water issues, including efficient water use in agriculture, community decision-making tools for extreme hydrological events, and invasive species management. Throughout the challenge, each team grounded their work in field-based scientific expertise while weaving Indigenous Knowledge into their design process.

Supported by Alberta Innovates, Prairies Economic Development Canada, and CIER, an expert panel of judges ultimately declared this year’s winners of the grand prize of $20,000.

“CIER is proud to stand alongside the finalists on this journey, and we’re genuinely inspired by the care, creativity, and ambition behind the solutions you’ve brought forward. By weaving Indigenous knowledge together with sustainable approaches to water, you’re helping to shape practical, lasting change and setting a powerful example for what climate resilience and Two-eyed seeing can look like across the Prairies,” says Shianne McKay, Co-Executive Director for CIER.

Over $35,000 in seed funding was awarded to the solutions voted the most innovative and impactful. Here is the list of winners:

• 1st Prize Winners – $20,000: Consilience (Sam Lucy Behle, César Pedrosa Soares)

Their solution, Drift-Eye Swarm is reshaping how we detect and respond to invasive species, offering a fresh and accessible approach to continuous aquatic monitoring. Compact and self-operating, these devices make large-scale aquatic surveillance accessible to local communities, helping prevent ecological and economic damage before it spreads.

• 2nd Prize Winners – $10,000: Purus Aqua (Daniel Bielecki, Justyn Deenoo, Om Shah, Tejas Sarkar)

A passive filtration system designed to sit in prairie trenches and capture contaminants from runoff and snowmelt. This small-scale, low-maintenance solution supports sustainable agriculture by improving water quality and reducing pollution entering local waterways. 

• 3rd Prize Winners – $5,000: Reverbio (Matthew Gaiser, Nicholas Lor)

Their solution uses bioacoustic monitoring (underwater microphones combined with AI) to listen for the unique sound “fingerprints” of invasive species like Prussian Carp, goldfish, and zebra mussels. By detecting these invaders long before they are visible, it provides real-time alerts to communities, governments, and Indigenous stewards, making early intervention faster, cheaper, and more effective.

• People’s Choice Award – $1,000: NAID Solutions (Princess Cortes, Manju Thomas)

Their solution, a web-based application that transforms local knowledge and real-time community reports into verified, geolocated evidence on an interactive map, ensures urgent environmental warnings are seen and acted upon. By combining live reporting, sentiment analysis, and an accountability ledger, it preserves traditional knowledge and connects people facing shared challenges with those who can help.

• Two-Eyed Seeing Award – $1,000: Purus Aqua (Daniel Bielecki, Justyn Deenoo, Om Shah, Tejas Sarkar) 

A passive filtration system designed to sit in prairie trenches and capture contaminants from runoff and snowmelt. This small-scale, low-maintenance solution supports sustainable agriculture by improving water quality and reducing pollution entering local waterways.