The New Brunswick Innovation Foundation launched its Breakthru competition last week, ramping up the total prize pot to $1 million and opening the competition to startups across the country.

The Innovation agency holds the Breakthru competition every other year with the goal of helping young companies to get off the ground with funding and mentorship. When it held the 2014-15 edition of the competition, NBIF awarded a total of more than $730,000 to three companies.

In the 2016-17 contest, NBIF will award $750,000 in cash and in-kind services to the top three New Brunswick companies. And it will set aside $250,000 for a company from other parts of Canada that wants to set up base in New Brunswick.

“Imagine, one day you’re dreaming about being an entrepreneur and owning your own company, and the next day it’s a reality—this is what’s going to happen for three hard-working Breakthru participants,” said NBIF Chair Cathy Simpson in a statement. “Starting a new company is a risky adventure, and to take the leap into entrepreneurship, people need to know that turning their ideas into a business is a real possibility—Breakthru does exactly that.”

The sixth edition of Breakthru, sponsored by Cox & Palmer and Deloitte, offers the largest prize package of any comparable competition in Canada. The result of the competition is that four young companies will be growing in the province with an average of $250,000 of development capital or expertise. The prizes include professional services like legal, accounting and marketing advice. NBIF Chief Executive Calvin Milbury likes to call the prize a “company in a box”.

The national competition – which is not open to companies from Quebec, due to unique regulations for competitions in that province – is designed to attract companies to New Brunswick. The winners will receive a $200,000 venture capital investment from NBIF as well as $50,000 in in-kind services.

As well as the prizes, the Breakthru competition helps to educate novice entrepreneurs in developing a business. The process this year will include two different bootcamps, which means that even companies that don’t win awards will gain through the process.

“The purpose of Breakthru is to bring people, ideas and money together in a way that fosters innovation and entrepreneurship,” said the NBIF statement. “The professional services, support and mentoring they receive from NBIF and its prize partners will make a tremendous impact when entrepreneurs need it most – during their start-up phase.”

In 2015, Breakthru was won by Castaway Golf, which develop an automated system for retrieving golf balls from water hazards, which could then be sold on to golfers.  

Breakthru began as a student competition in 2004 and previous participants have included such high-profile startups as TotalPave, Smart Skin Technologies, Inversa Systems and Scene Sharp.

Applicants must submit their applications by Nov. 15. The winners will be announced at the Breakthru LIVE 2017 gala at the Fredericton Convention Centre on March 23, 2017.