PolyDrop
Team PolyDrop.

College students are saving the world.

Well, maybe not all of them. But the teams that participated in last week’s Environmental Innovation Challenge at the University of Washington are certainly impressive by our standards.

Teams from universities and colleges around the Northwest congregated at the UW to pitch their innovations that addressed energy, urban agriculture, recycling, built environment and water-related problems.

In total, $22,500 was awarded to five different teams. Taking the $10,000 first place was PolyDrop, a UW group that came up with an idea to turn regular coatings like paint into conductive substances.

Here’s a description of their pitch from the UW:

The transportation industry is looking to move towards using light-weight carbon fiber materials to reduce fuel consumption and decrease carbon dioxide emissions. However, carbon fiber composites accumulate a static charge that will interfere with a vehicle’s sensitive electronics. PolyDrop solves this problem by providing a means to dissipate static electricity with a viable conductive technology.

Coming in second was Pure Blue Technologies, another UW group that developed a safer and more efficient way to disinfect water. You can find out more about the rest of the teams here.

Previously on GeekWire: Randomized food delivery service NomON takes 1st place at UW Startup Weekend

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