World Housing Solution, a client of the Florida Cleantech Acceleration Network (FL-CAN), has been selected as one of three companies to appear on Project Startup, a new cross-platform initiative by A&E Network.

According to World Housing Solution CEO Ron Ben-Zeev, A&E will work with RocketHub, an online crowd-funding platform, to support select projects with significant seed money. The aim is to help startups reach their fundraising goals, with the added potential for national exposure on all the network’s platforms.

Ben-Zeev co-founded World Housing Solution in response to the catastrophic earthquake in Haiti in 2010. He and his team pooled their knowledge and experience to develop reusable earthquake- and hurricane-resistant structures that use structural insulated composite panels (SICP).

Ben-Zeev, a co-organizer of Startup Weekend in Orlando, said, “I challenged my team to come up with a reusable, rigid tent that could provide safety and security to inhabitants and be earthquake- and hurricane-resistant.”

Today, World Housing Solution manufactures structures out of panels using phenolic resin and fiberglass, which ensure strength and durability. The outer shell of the SICPs allows the structures to withstand mold, mildew, termites, fires, earthquakes of up to 7.8 magnitude and Category 4 hurricanes.

“Due to the inherent properties of the material, we can provide a hurricane-resistant structure that can be built within a few hours by people with little to no prior knowledge of construction,” Ben-Zeev said.

World Housing Solution has also supplied the U.S. Navy with a prototype structure located at Camp Shelby in Mississippi, which has successfully weathered several hurricanes and tropical storms. Through the Navy, the company is also supplying structures to the South Pacific Island of Palau, and the Horn of Africa, where a women’s health clinic compound is being constructed.

“The military is extremely involved with humanitarian work, however, one of the challenges is that they spend months building, sometimes in hostile environments,” said Ben-Zeev. “Our structures can be assembled within days and will last for decades.”

Ben-Zeev and the World Housing Solution team are thankful for the assistance they’ve received from UCF, specifically FL-CAN. “Everyone I’ve met at UCF has been great,” he said. “It’s been very helpful to have a network of talented people available to contact when I run into a challenge.”

For more information about World Housing Solution and their premier on A&E, visit WorldHousingSolution.com and RocketHub.com/projectstartup.