Meet 17-year-old Tiya Aggarwal, who built a smart watering system for 150+ plant species

Tiya Aggarwal presenting her idea before the jury. Tiya Aggarwal, a student of Canadian high school, has developed a smart irrigation system designed to care for more than 150 plant species. She won the top prize at a provincial entrepreneurship competition.A grade 12 student at Burnaby South Secondary in British Columbia, Tia presented her idea, Aquora150, at the 8th annual Discover Your Pitch Provincial Finals in May this year. According to JA British Coulbia, the programme gives high school students an opportunity to identify problems, develop solutions and present their ideas to industry leaders. Six teams from across British Columbia made it to the finals.Aquora150 is a smart irrigation system that uses humidity-capturing technology to hydrate houseplants while aiming to reduce water, plastic and glass waste. The system is designed to automatically adjust plant care for more than 150 species. Aggarwal's idea won the first-place prize of $3,000 at the event.Ideas covering several areas were pitched during the event, including sustainability, food waste, agriculture, education, productivity and responsible consumer products. After the students presented their ideas and answered ...