2010 has been a year of firsts for the BCIC-New Ventures Competition: celebrating our first decade, awarding three awards to one recipient for the first time in the competition’s history and launching our first Regional competition exclusively for entrepreneurs located outside of the Lower Mainland.
Congratulations again to the winners of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place BCIC prize packages in our 2010 provincial competition: Hiretheworld.com, Solegear Bioplastics and Quadrogen Power Systems. Quadrogen and Solegear also garnered additional prizes, with Solegear winning an unprecedented three awards.
In addition to the networking and mentorship opportunities offered to entrants in the competition, the education component has always been integral to the success of the program and its applicants. Topics like “The Lean Startup”, and “Social Media for Startups” were among the 11 seminars presented this year.
The BCIC-New Ventures Competition: Regional attracted more than 40 applicants, with 39 eligible candidates from across the province proceeding to Round 2. In the second Round, entrepreneurs in cleantech, medical device technology, digital media, web and other industries pitched to a panel of industry experts. On December 3, we announced the Top 20, with representation from the Thompson-Okanagan, the Kootenays, Northern BC, the Sunshine Coast and Vancouver Island. Our three winners will be announced at the February 24 awards ceremony in Kelowna.
In closing, thank you to the applicants, volunteer mentors, board members, sponsors, judges and speakers who continue to ensure that the BCIC-New Ventures program is a key component to fostering innovation in British Columbia. Not only were we proud to celebrate our tenth anniversary this year, we were pleased to announce our new brand as the BCIC-New Ventures Competition. Thank you to our title sponsor BCIC for their continued support.