Western hosts inaugural True North Biomedical Competition

team photo

Western Engineering welcomed students from across the country earlier this month for the inaugural True North Biomedical Competition, a first-of-its-kind student-led initiative designed to give undergraduate students hands-on experience tackling real-world healthcare challenges.

Founded by Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering students Fadi El-Richani and Grace El-Hawary, the competition brought together teams from 10 universities and more than 140 participants.

founders
Grace El-Hawary and Fadi El-Richani

"While biomedical engineering competitions are nothing new, there’s traditionally been a gap when it comes to long-term opportunities for undergraduate students,” said El-Richani. “Many existing competitions are international and geared toward graduate students or established companies, which creates a high barrier to entry.”

The True North Biomedical Competition was created to address that gap, offering undergraduate students the chance to apply classroom learning to practical challenges while building key skills in medical device design, pitching, and interdisciplinary collaboration.

Over the last 7 months, teams were tasked with redefining the ACL rehabilitation process, turning qualitative, ambiguous and subjective metrics into quantitative data-driven decisions through innovation. They were then subjected to a series of judging rounds, designed to push their understanding of the device’s development, usability and scalability. The event emphasized not only technical excellence, but also communication and real-world application.

“I was very impressed by the ingenuity of the rehabilitation devices each of the teams created," said James Lacefield, Western Engineering professor and director of the School of Biomedical Engineering. "Their prototypes effectively integrated electronic, mechanical, and software systems with knowledge of biomechanics and physiology."

"The competition was an excellent demonstration of the capabilities of Canadian biomedical engineering students.”

For the organizers, the most rewarding moment came when months of planning turned into a tangible experience on competition day.

“Meeting the teams in person after working on something so new was incredibly meaningful,” said El-Hawary. “There was a real sense of excitement, not just around the competition itself, but around the opportunity to push biomedical engineering forward through innovation and collaboration.”

That sense of excitement and passion was evident throughout the event, with teams arriving motivated and ready to showcase their ideas. Some universities formed teams specifically for the competition, while others brought existing student groups looking to expand their technical focus.

“In its inaugural year, bringing together 10 universities and more than 140 participants was incredibly rewarding,” El-Richani added. “Knowing we helped create new opportunities for biomedical engineering students across Canada is something we’re really proud of.”

El-Hawary highlighted the support for the competition that made it possible.

"True North Biomedical Competition would've only been an idea if it weren’t brought to life with the help of our sponsors, including Dexcom Canada, Ansys – as part of Synopsys – and BioNext."

For more information on the True North Biomedical Competition visit them on Instagram or LinkedIn.