When every heartbeat counts, innovation can save lives.

Atif Shamim and Muhammad Arsalan, two electronic engineer Ph.D. students at Carleton University, are in the process of designing a new wireless electronic device that could monitor the heartbeats of hospital patients from a distance.

Their design, VSM Technologies, would use transceiver circuits and on-chip antennas that would reduce the size and power consumption of the medical patch. The technology could reduce the medical staff and costs for hospitals without compromising patient safety.

The idea won Shamim and Arsalan first place and $20,000 at the Enterprize Canada Entrepreneurial Championship, held in early February. The prestigious national engineering competition also awarded them the chance to present their ambitious business plan on the CBC show, “Dragons Den”.

“It was a really difficult competition because we are engineers; we don’t have any business acumen,” said Arsalan in an interview with the Ottawa Business Journal.

This competition is just the latest of many that Shamim and Arsalan have excelled in, making VSM Technologies something that could be in hospitals soon.