From an app designed to build walking into everyday life, to a corporate program inspired by schoolyard recess, to integrating activity across entire municipalities, Western University students devised innovations to tackle one of Canada’s most stubborn public health challenges – a crisis of physical inactivity. The President’s Challenge, now in its third year, asked interdisciplinary teams of students to create solutions that would motivate individuals, communities and systems across Canada to increase physical activity and improve health outcomes. The stakes are real. A World Health Organization study in 2022 found more than 37 per cent of Canadian adults are physically inactive. That number is projected to surpass 41 per cent by 2030. Over the last six weeks, nearly 400 students from almost every faculty have been developing solutions honed through workshops, live pitch presentations and coaching. Competition organizers from the Morrissette Institute for Entrepreneurship, Powered by Ivey were thrilled with both the ingenuity of ideas and the turnout nearly twice that of last year’s event.  “The strong interest and enthusiasm for the challenge tell us they’re not only engaged, they’re creative and responsive in applying their knowledge where it matters most,” said Eric Morse, executive director of Morrissette Entrepreneurship. “We’re excited by their solutions-driven approach to health innovations, deeply attuned to real-world needs.”  The students are addressing a problem that touches nearly every Canadian. Sedentary lifestyles are linked to elevated risks of heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, depression and cognitive decline, adding pressure on a public health-care system already strained by chronic disease.  

Entrepreneurial skills drive student health innovations

Eleven teams judged to have the most compelling solutions presented at the challenge finals at Western on March 18.  First place and the top prize of $10,000 went to Erica Diana, a dual degree student at Ivey Business School and the Faculty of Health Sciences, and Ashna Chari, who’s pursuing a double major in medical sciences. Their project, BlueHabit, is a consulting firm designed to help municipalities become what they call “Blue Cities,” urban environments where movement and healthy living are integrated into everyday systems. It works by introducing scalable environmental and behavioural interventions into neighbourhoods, schools, workplaces and social infrastructure.  

Western students Ashna Chari and Erica Diana at the moment they won first place in the 2026 President’s Challenge. The duo successfully pitched their idea for a consulting firm called BlueHabit, aimed at helping municipalities integrate healthy living into urban environments. (Brandon MacIntosh/Ivey Business School)

Diana and Chari were on a team that finished in the top five in last year’s President’s Challenge. Their experience drew others into competing this year, growing the number of students across all disciplines at Western who are developing their entrepreneurial instincts.  “Every year, I’m inspired by the ideas and truly creative solutions students bring to the President’s Challenge,” said Western President Alan Shepard. “It’s equally exciting to see students from across all faculties embrace entrepreneurial thinking and innovation, learn from each other and develop the skills and confidence that will carry them forward in their careers.” Creating entrepreneurs who will help build Canada’s economic growth is a core priority at Western, which ranks among the world’s top 50 best schools for entrepreneurship. Morrissette Entrepreneurship at Western offers a comprehensive suite of programs for students and alumni, including the Founders Program and the Western Accelerator. These initiatives provide mentorship, funding and specialized workspaces for innovation in the Ronald D. Schmeichel Building for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. Second place in the President’s Challenge finals went to Brenda Lawrence, Hadley Stowe, Spencer Mackenzie and Durgalakshmi Arivazhagan, the team who pitched Kinetic Identity. The program is designed to build and preserve activity starting in youth, the most influential time for forming lifelong habits. In third place, the team of Rachael Kangal, Aadya Makhija, Khevna Shelat and Elisa Shkambi won with their project called FamFit, an indoor family fitness system designed to bring parents and children together through activity.  

Mentorship at Morrissette Entrepreneurship helps turn ideas into action

Throughout the President’s Challenge events, thirty-five mentors from the community – most of them Western alumni – provided coaching and feedback, alongside corporate partners GoodLife Fitness and TechAlliance. The workshops gave students an inside view of what innovation looks like in practice.   “Good ideas rarely come from sudden bursts of creativity,” said engineering student Tina Deleersnyder. “Instead, they develop through discussion, hearing different perspectives and gradually refining an idea over time. Iteration through collaboration beats a single moment of inspiration.”  Deleersnyder and her teammate, science student Ashley Fan, were among the finalists with their project called Antler. It’s a fitness app aimed at people who don’t already have established workout routines and specific goals.   “We noticed that most fitness apps emphasize performance and stats rather than consistency,” Deleersnyder said.

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To lower the barrier for beginners who find conventional fitness culture intimidating, Antler frames exercise around short walks in users’ neighbourhoods rather than high-intensity performance.  “Exercise often feels overwhelming, especially when it’s tied to big goals like long workouts or major lifestyle changes,” Deleersnyder said. “By prompting short, convenient walks and reinforcing consistency, the app helps alleviate the pressure of starting.”   Antler uses location and scheduling data to suggest routes that fit naturally into users’ daily routines. Tracking of each completed walk, social sharing and achievement badges reward consistency to reinforce the habit over time.   

Rethinking workplace design to increase physical activity

Another finalist team, BBR Consultants, found their solution in a primary school tradition. They proposed a corporate program for medium-sized employers called Bring Back Recess. Team members Elizabeth Webster, Isabel Pogue, Gitanjali Khan and Tiana Lee, from Western’s Faculty of Science and Ivey Business School, developed the concept from a persistent question in their brainstorming sessions: “How can we meaningfully improve the everyday lives of people who spend most of their day sitting at work?”  The team sees the root cause of Canada’s activity problem as a failure of workplace design rather than a failure of personal willpower.  “Many people spend most of their day in environments that make movement difficult, particularly in office jobs where long periods of sitting are normalized. But a simple structural change can shift behaviour and workplace culture,” Webster said. “Lasting behaviour change happens when the surrounding system supports it.”  In the Bring Back Recess program, employers embed 15-to-20-minute recess periods – free of meetings – into every workday to facilitate movement with social interaction. Bring Back Recess is tailored to each workplace and requires no special equipment or facilities. It’s pitched as a strategy for companies to reduce absenteeism and protect productivity.  The team points to compelling numbers for employer buy-in. According to Harvard research cited in the team’s proposal, walking just 20 minutes a day, five days a week, can reduce sick days by up to 43 per cent. For a company with 500 employees, that translates to more than $570,000 in annual savings.  The pitch could be just the beginning for this team and all the finalists in the President’s Challenge. Teams may have opportunities to develop their solutions further through research, white papers or assistance in building new ventures. The top three teams will next take their pitches to a VIP audience in Toronto on March 30.  Learn more about how Western is preparing future leaders and global citizens.