In partnership with the US Middle East Partnership Initiative Tomorrow’s Leaders College-to-Work Pipeline (MEPI-TLP) program, the LAU School of Engineering hosted the Shark Tank Competition, where different student teams pitched their entrepreneurial ideas to a panel of industry experts last July.

Dean Michel Khoury underscored the competition’s added value in “offering timely solutions to challenges that plague Lebanon,” while “recognizing the students’ spirit of initiative and commitment to their projects.” He also pointed to the role of universities and civic service organizations in alleviating the impact of the crisis in the country.

Explaining the objectives of the competition, Industrial Hub Director and Assistant Professor of Practice Ali Ammouri said that it represents the “perfect fusion of academic knowledge, creativity and the entrepreneurial drive that had come to define our students.” A number of previous competitions have awarded student teams seed money to start their own ventures. “We are here to support the next generation of leaders and changemakers,” he added.

Four teams – CancerCom, Bernard Reality Labs, Luxeed and Ozai – won first, second, third and fourth places respectively, and were awarded monetary prizes totaling $25,000.

The first-place winning project, CancerCom, proposes to connect cancer patients and their families to vital resources and tools that can help demystify the disease and offer support on their treatment journey.

Through Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Augmented Reality (AR), the team behind Bernard Reality Labs, who came second, hopes to reform healthcare, and address the problems of shortages and burnout rates in healthcare providers.

The third-place winning project, Luxeed, proposes to leverage the power of AI and lasers to tackle agricultural challenges and revolutionize farming.

The concept behind Ozai is to use waste from wineries to produce skincare cosmetics, offering a sustainable solution for waste management while innovating within the cosmetics industry.