Marysville residents Justin Garcia and John Huenfeld are the first- and second-place winners in the Amazon Catalyst competition in the City of Marysville, Mayor Jon Nehring recently announced. The winners submitted their proposals for streamlining manufacturing, the theme of the Marysville competition.
Garcia envisioned a mobile concrete 3D printer that uniformly adds liquefied matter on top of solids. Huenfeld envisioned a silent, low-wind urban windmill that runs more quietly and operates with lower wind speeds. Both men received cash prizes from Amazon to further develop their prototypes in the contest managed by NW Innovation Resource Center.
“It seems to me that the timing for this competition – asking for innovative ideas about how to streamline manufacturing and improve business processes – could not have been better,” Mayor Jon Nehring said.
“The City of Marysville for years has been investing in planning and infrastructure to welcome new manufacturing and smart technology businesses into our Cascade Industrial Center. Similarly, Amazon’s investment in this Catalyst competition welcomed innovative ideas that could help improve productivity for businesses who locate in Marysville and throughout our region.”
Mayor Nehring also congratulated Karla Brunner, a Marysville resident who submitted a winning idea for Healthcare to the Amazon Catalyst competition in Everett.
You can watch Marysville’s virtual awards ceremony and hear more about the winning entries online at https://youtu.be/6dlZQfAGfhE or on the City of Marysville Facebook page.
Amazon Catalyst is a collaboration with universities, nonprofits, and professional organizations to supercharge innovation, encouraging people in all fields to think big, invent solutions to real-world problems, and make a positive impact on the world.
The NW Innovation Resource Center is a nonprofit organization that builds innovation capacity within northwest Washington. It assists entrepreneurs and inventors in developing their individual business strategy and execution as they move from idea to success and add to the economic resilience of the region. For more details, please visit www.nwirc.com.