Community Updates

Cisco Innovation Challenge helps students launch their ventures

Everyone needs to do their part to conserve water. But what if entire communities could work together to eliminate the unnecessary waste of this valuable resource? That’s the idea behind Green Plant Framework/Aquifer Systems, founded by Joshua Parde. The system allows users to compare the total volume of water delivered from a municipal source to the amount actually used in a home or other building. With this data, homeowners and property managers can identify water leaks and make critical repairs.

Published 7 years ago | About a 3 minute read

Everyone needs to do their part to conserve water. But what if entire communities could work together to eliminate the unnecessary waste of this valuable resource?

That’s the idea behind Green Plant Framework/Aquifer Systems, founded by Joshua Parde. The system allows users to compare the total volume of water delivered from a municipal source to the amount actually used in a home or other building. With this data, homeowners and property managers can identify water leaks and make critical repairs.

On Nov. 15, Parde was awarded first place at the Cisco Innovation Challenge and a prize of $5,000 to help launch his company. The Cisco Innovation Challenge is a live pitch competition where students can win seed funding to start, grow or launch their ventures. It is supported by grant funding from the Cisco corporate advised fund at Silicon Valley Community Foundation and hosted by Arizona State University’s Entrepreneurship and Innovation (E+I) in partnership with Maricopa Community Colleges.

Parde is currently completing high school and is dually-enrolled in his fifth semester at Glendale Community College. He’s an up-and-coming entrepreneur. And he’s just 15 years old.

“I was really excited to win!” Parde said. “With the immense problem of utility wastage that faces us today, we really need a large-scale solution to this problem. Did you know that Americans alone waste up to 1 trillion gallons of water a year?”

Next May, after graduating from high school, Parde plans to attend ASU with a double major in computer systems engineering and business administration. He will also continue his work with Green Planet/Aquifer Systems by completing additional research, obtaining necessary patents and creating prototypes for potential investors.

“The seed funding I received from the Cisco Innovation Challenge will help me to bring my community-based ecological change platform to market, allowing us to prevent wastage of our resources together and put them to use where they are most needed,” he said.

The Cisco Innovation Challenge is open to Maricopa Community College students from all majors and fields of study. The competition allows selected participants to pitch ideas for new internet of things solutions and technologies.

It can also be a culminating event for students in Poder, a five-week social entrepreneurship program offered at no cost to Maricopa Community College students by E+I who are selected to participate. Poder helps students develop a business concept and encourages them to consider how technology allows them to maximize their positive impact on the world.

“ASU is pleased and proud to partner with the Maricopa Community Colleges, Silicon Valley Community Foundation, and Cisco to present the Cisco Innovation Challenge to the community twice a year, and not only reward the student presenters, but also bring to life to a wider audience the importance of digitization and the power of entrepreneurship,” said Ji Mi Choi, associate vice president of ASU’s Office of Knowledge Enterprise Development. “As a university that values entrepreneurship, ASU’s Entrepreneurship and Innovation team endeavors to support students, faculty and the community in their development as entrepreneurs as well as the development of their ventures as drivers of economic and social change.”