RISE recently announced its seven finalists of the Coastal Community Resilience Challenge. The Challenge sought innovative solutions around major resilience issues that can be demonstrated in the Hampton Roads region of Southeastern Virginia, can be built into sustainable businesses, and are scalable to other communities.
Challenge judges selected the seven finalists from a very competitive pool of 51 innovative solutions around five Challenge topics. RISE partnered with MIT Solve to attract submissions and judges from around the world.
The finalists will be invited to pitch to the RISE Resilience Innovation Fund which is offering more than $1 million in funding. The winners will be announced in early 2019.
“Massive infrastructure projects take years and billions of dollars. By developing the Hampton Roads region as a hub of resilience innovation for entrepreneurs, we can accelerate investment in affordable and scalable solutions while boosting the regional economy,” said RISE’s Chief Strategy Officer, Dr. Katerina Oskarsson.
The remaining resilience solutions not selected for the Resilience Innovation Fund pitch will be featured on the RISE website in the upcoming weeks for other investors to tap into these opportunities.
Coastal Community Resilience Challenge Finalists
Commonwealth Preservation Group Museum Resources (CPG MR) – CPG MR will enhance viability of established neighborhoods in flood-prone areas by piloting alternative flood resilience retrofit methods for older and historic structures under various flooding conditions.
Constructis Energy – Constructis will demonstrate roadway energy harvesting micro-grids, providing emergency power storage, communications, and first responder vehicle plug-in. These microgrids will also power pump systems to alleviate roadway flooding.
Flood Mitigation Hampton Roads – Team lead by Home Mechanix will test and demonstrate a novel approach to expedite the process of basement sand filling in a way that significantly reduces the time and cost of implementation, while decreasing insurance premiums.
GROW Oyster Reefs – GROW will demonstrate a novel concept of oyster reef restoration while providing jobs and training for underserved population. These reefs will improve the overall water quality in the Chesapeake Bay and reduce effects of flooding by creating an organic seawall. GROW GROW was recently selected as a Solver with MIT Solve as part of its Coastal Community Challenge.
Landscape Resilience Partnership (LRP) – LRP led by Wetlands Watch will accelerate the development of nature-based resilience solutions by refining and scaling its workforce training and certification program. Its focus will be on retrofitting water resilience solutions into built-out neighborhoods, dominated by private ownership of small parcels.
Resilient Enterprise Solution (RES) – RES will mitigate flood risks, reduce insurance premiums, and grow jobs by converting coastal home-raising from a cottage industry to a franchise network. RES will offer financing, insurance, and actual home-raising as a single source offering while also establishing a Home Raising Training Academy in Hampton Roads.
SGA Bio-Retention Systems – SGA will pilot innovative urban retrofit bio-retention systems that will reduce stormwater flooding while decreasing the design, construction, and operation and maintenance costs. SGA will prototype a number of new approaches that will advance the state of the art of green stormwater management.
RISE is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to helping solve some of the most pressing resilience problems facing today’s coastal communities. For more information, visit www.riseresilience.org.