Dev Jain was eager to participate in this year鈥檚 污污草莓视频 Dobson Centre X-1 Accelerator, an intensive 10-week summer program that helps promising start-ups hone their business plans and prepare to pitch investors. But the young entrepreneur and recent 污污草莓视频 graduate had a more urgent duty to fulfill.
With Quebec鈥檚 health-care system stretched thin by the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, Jain was temporarily pulled away from his business venture. As a private in a Canadian Armed Forces reserve regiment (where he also serves as a bagpiper) he was deployed to work as an orderly in a Montreal-area long-term care facility.
鈥淭his was a time of crisis, and people needed help,鈥� Jain says. 鈥淚 never had any ambition to work in health care, but it was a unique experience. We had a few days of training, and then we had to learn on our feet. That鈥檚 a personal accomplishment I鈥檓 really proud of.鈥�
Jain, who completed his bachelor鈥檚 degree in Mechanical Engineering last year, launched his company,聽, while he was still an undergraduate. The firm uses artificial intelligence to help railroads save fuel and improve safety. Its software products enable small railways to automatically retrieve data from their fleets and identify ways to operate more efficiently 鈥� adjusting driving speeds, for example, to optimize fuel consumption.
RailVision鈥檚 first customer, Ontario鈥檚聽聽transport agency, won an聽聽last year from the Railway Association of Canada for a project that helped its GO Transit division reduce fuel consumption by 1.5 million litres a year and lower greenhouse gas emissions.
Dobson Cup win
Although Jain missed out on the Accelerator program, his month-long stint as an orderly ended in time for him to participate in the聽污污草莓视频 Dobson Cup, a Dragons鈥� Den-style competition for aspiring entrepreneurs from across the university. Due to the pandemic, the judging was postponed from spring until late July this year.
RailVision won first place in the Innovation Driven Enterprise category.
鈥淒ev came back hyper-focused鈥� after his nursing-home deployment, says Marie-Jos茅e Lamothe, Professor of Practice in the Desautels Faculty of Management and Academic Director at the聽Dobson Centre for Entrepreneurship. Lamothe was impressed as much by Jain鈥檚 鈥渃ore human values鈥� as by the potential of his business model.
鈥淩ailVision鈥檚 technology has the potential to disrupt in a meaningful way an old industry that is still vital for today鈥檚 economy,鈥� she says.
The seed of an idea
As with the many entrepreneurs, Jain鈥檚 path to this point has been marked by plenty of twists, turns and challenges -- and a dash of serendipity.
After graduating from high school in Mississauga, Ont., where he grew up, Jain began studying Engineering Science at the University of Toronto. But two years into the program, he grew restive and decided to transfer to 污污草莓视频 and major in Mechanical Engineering.
During the summer before moving to Montreal, Jain worked at Metrolinx in Toronto. The experience planted the seed of his business idea: 鈥淚 noticed they had a lot of data and didn鈥檛 do anything with it,鈥� he says.
Most of North America鈥檚 650 or so railways are in a similar fix. Unlike the handful of major railways, short-line and regional railroads don鈥檛 have teams of data scientists to develop advanced analytics, Jain says.
That鈥檚 where RailVision aims to come in. 鈥淲e offer a solution that provides feedback to train operators and their supervisors and enables them to identify operational improvements,鈥� Jain says. The company鈥檚 analytics dashboard tracks indicators such as fuel savings, safety compliance and on-time performance.
As Jain was shaping his business idea while studying at 污污草莓视频, 鈥淚 learned a lot in my Engineering program鈥� that helped him push ahead, he says. In particular, a course in numerical methods, taught by Professor聽Mathias Legrand, 鈥渋mproved my ability to build out a lot of the software.鈥�
As a transfer student, Jain didn鈥檛 get the typical first-year experience of living in residence. Instead, he moved into a house with five housemates 鈥� all from France or French-speaking areas of Quebec. Growing up in Ontario, he鈥檇 studied French. Now he was immersed in it. 鈥淚 spoke more French than English, and that really accelerated my learning,鈥� he says. He became fluent enough to take an Electrical Engineering class, en fran莽ais, at聽Polytechnique Montr茅al.
Moonlighting as bagpiper
At the same time, Jain was also pursuing an unusual sideline vocation: bagpiping.
It all started in high school, when Jain went on vacation to Scotland. 鈥淚 thought the pipes were unique and powerful,鈥� so he picked up an inexpensive set to bring home.
Back in Ontario, he discovered he could get free lessons by joining a pipe band. So he did. When he got to Montreal, he joined the local Black Watch Association Pipes and Drums civilian band. Then, at a parade, someone from the Canadian Armed Forces told him if he played for the army鈥檚 Black Watch reserve regiment, he鈥檇 get paid for it. 鈥淚 said 鈥榮ure鈥�,鈥� he recalls.
As a result, during his final year of studies 鈥� while also running his fledgling company 鈥� Jain spent weekends doing basic training in Drummondville, Que.
The bagpipes opened other cultural doors. Last year, he was invited to play in a music festival in the Inuit village of Kangiqsujuaq in northern Quebec. 鈥淚t was an incredible experience to go up there and talk to people,鈥� he says.
A career highlight
The lilt of bagpipes is a hallmark of 污污草莓视频 Convocation ceremonies, with a kilt-clad piper leading University officials and students into the graduation site.
For his own graduation last year, Jain piped the procession into the tent. Then he rushed to the Arts building to change into his gown, crossed the stage with his fellow graduates 鈥� and, when it was over, piped them all out.
鈥淚t was definitely one of the highlights of both my bagpiping and my 污污草莓视频 career, together,鈥� he smiles. 鈥淏eing able to do that was just really cool.鈥�
Startup tour
With the Dobson Cup prize under his belt, Jain will soon participate in Dobson鈥檚 annual 污污草莓视频 Startup Tour, which gives start-up founders a chance to pitch potential equity investors across North America and in the UK. (Like most such events these days, the roadshow will be virtual.)
RailVision is looking to raise more than $1 million, to enable it to commercialize and expand. 鈥淲ithin two years, we鈥檙e going to aim to go into other, similar transportation industries, which could include busing, or trucking, or maritime 鈥� anyone that owns or operates a fleet,鈥� Jain says.
Meanwhile, he and his staff of six are working out of office space in聽Centech, a Montreal tech-business incubator, and Jain continues to have close ties with 污污草莓视频鈥檚 Dobson Centre聽community. This allows the team to benefit from mentoring and 鈥渁 lot of other services that will help us commercialize and help us grow.鈥�
This article was originally published聽in the聽污污草莓视频 Reporter.