Tens of thousands of dollars are up for grabs in a competition for innovators who have ideas that could solve ocean industry problems.
The Ocean Startup Challenge is a project of the Ocean Start-up Project , one of the projects developed by Canada’s Ocean Supercluster program.
The project aims to help entrepreneurs speed up development of their ideas and get those new technologies up and running for the ocean industry.
"We welcome applications with innovative solutions and perspectives that could have a major impact on industry and the ocean economy," said Don Grant, Executive Director of the Ocean Start-up Project. "The Challenge is an opportunity to identify, support and grow the next Canadian ocean tech success stories."
The ideas they want to encourage, he told SaltWire, are ones that willl solve some of the problems identified by leaders and companies in ocean industries.
The challenges span aquaculture, fisheries, ocean transportation, bioscience, energy, healthy oceans and ecosystem services, energy, enabling technologies and data analytics, Grant said.
“The Challenge presents innovators with a pre-identified, potential market need and asks them to step up to apply their ideas or technologies as ways to solve the challenges.”
The deadline for submission of ideas is Aug. 14.
The top 20 applications will be chosen by Sept. 4
Grant said his group will whittle the ideas down to the best 20, and the entrepreneurs will get a chance to pitch directly to a panel of judges, Dragon’s Den style, Sept. 22-24.
“Hopefully we’ll be a little gentler than Dragon’s Den,” Grant quipped, “but we’ll have a good cross-section of people judging this and there will be questions, and probably some tough ones I would think.”
Up to 10 prizes of $25,000 each will be awarded to the winning ideas, said Grant.
The 10 winners will be announced Sept. 30.
The winning innovators will not just receive money but will get support from the Oceans Challenges project and other mentors, to fully develop their prototype.
“We will put supports in place to develop both their company and their prototype. And we have some in-kind contributions from Atlantic Canadian companies that will support them.
“We are very engaged in this project in helping these new ideas, individuals or start-up companies really set a strong foundation to develop their idea so they are set up for maximum success.”
They may also be eligible to participate in a follow-on Ocean Startup Project activity, involving up to another $100,000 awarded to finalists.
Even those who are not chosen for a prize will still benefit from participating in this competition.
They will have an opportunity to participate in invitation-only training and virtual boot camps and receive guidance and support from organizations partnering in the Atlantic Canadian ocean industry ecosystem.
“It’s such a great time to be involved in the oceans industry sector,” added Grant. “There’s just so much energy and excitement and enthusiasm around it.”
The Challenge is led by the Ocean Startup Project, the first Innovation Ecosystem Project announced by Canada's Ocean Supercluster. The Ocean Startup Project is a pan-Atlantic collaboration to create and grow high-quality ocean technology companies and attract more ventures to the region's ecosystem. Collaborators include Creative Destruction Lab-Atlantic, Genesis, Innovacorp, New Brunswick Innovation Foundation, PEI BioAlliance, and Springboard Atlantic.
In-kind supporters of the Ocean Startup Challenge include BDO Canada, Enginuity, IGNITE, McInnes Cooper, Propel, and Saint Mary's University Entrepreneurship Centre.
For more information about the Ocean Startup Challenge, visit http://oceanstartupchallenge.ca
