At age 14, Liam Pope-Lau is already four years into development of a tool he hopes will save lives.

LifeHeat is born from a chilly dip after falling out while sailing a few years ago.

含羞草研究社淚 just realized how cold it was and did a little bit of research on hypothermia,含羞草研究社� he said. 含羞草研究社淭his project含羞草研究社檚 really important to me because I feel it could really help somebody.含羞草研究社�

Spurred by the icy memory and statistics on cold-related deaths each year, he set out to create a self-heating life jacket using a chemical that creates heat upon contact with water. Pope-Lau sampled 13 prototypes before settling on a version with a calcium chloride element.

His project won the 2022 Youth Innovation Showcase with a $5,000 award attached to continue development.

Work since then, included exploring the expertise of people with BC Ferries, Mustang Survival, and the BC Lifesaving Society. Based on that feedback, he redesigned and improved LifeHeat, to make it accessible to more people as a self-heating survival pack.

含羞草研究社淭hey含羞草研究社檙e experts in this so it含羞草研究社檚 amazing to learn from them, they have a wealth of knowledge,含羞草研究社� Pope-Lau said. 含羞草研究社淎s one person it含羞草研究社檚 very hard to get things done, so there含羞草研究社檚 a community of people to help you out.含羞草研究社�

Now in Grade 9 at St. Michaels University School, he recently garnered two more major awards.

He won the award in the Entrepreneurship and Technology category of the Canadian 2024 Ingenious+Innovation Competition, which included a $10,000 prize, mentorship, learning prospects and a meeting with the Governor General. The money is useful as there are barriers especially for young innovators still working through school and extracurricular activities, such as sailing continues to be for Pope-Lau.

More mentorships are also welcome as well.

含羞草研究社淚t allows us to see where we are and what steps we really need to take to be able to do this,含羞草研究社� Pope-Lau said. 含羞草研究社淚t含羞草研究社檚 going to be amazing to learn from them.含羞草研究社�

During the event in Ottawa, he was inspired meeting and chatting with people like Christian Bagge, who revolutionized the wheelchair to allow users to rejoin activities.

含羞草研究社淧eople who are further along the journey are helping out the younger innovators. They know the challenges we face and they also know the ways to get around them,含羞草研究社� the teen said.

Perhaps his most prestigious award to date, Pope-Lau took home the top prize at the 2024 Blue Ocean Global Entrepreneurship Competition 含羞草研究社� touted as the world含羞草研究社檚 biggest pitch competition for high school students. He was one of four students from Canada in the Top 100 and beat out more than 10,000 students from 161 countries for first place.

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The students pitch their innovative business concepts to experienced entrepreneurs and business people, receive feedback on their ideas, join a community of like-minded students, and compete for thousands in cash prizes.

Coming from a small Saanich school, competing against students from massive schools worldwide was an 含羞草研究社渁mazing experience.含羞草研究社�

Standouts moments include learning how to position a product, both within the realm of what you want it to do, and the people you want to help, he said.

含羞草研究社淐reate new markets and go into different areas nobody has gone into before, and assist people who have been out of reach.含羞草研究社�

Currently, he含羞草研究社檚 working on improvements and lab testing to make sure it含羞草研究社檚 a viable project. He含羞草研究社檇 like to try some new models, and work on ingredients to make the heat longer-lasting.

含羞草研究社淚 also want to really be able to work on sourcing recycled materials,含羞草研究社� he said.

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