With the provincewide I-3 tech startup competition already in full swing, a new competition is being launched solely for startups in Cape Breton and the Mulgrave area.

Enterprise Cape Breton Corp., the Economic and Rural Development and Tourism Department and Innovacorp are jointly organizing the Spark Cape Breton competition. They launched the event Thursday night at TecSocial, the monthly get-together for the tech community on the Island.

The competition will target true early stage startups, meaning those that have yet to book any revenues. With an eight-member judging panel assessing the submissions, Spark Cape Breton will offer four awards of up to $50,000 each and mentoring from seasoned entrepreneurs. The size of the award, which is to be used to develop a prototype or take a product to market, will depend on the company’s needs and the judges’ evaluation.

“Many startup companies evolve and grow to create jobs and make important contributions to their communities,” said Michel Samson, the economic and rural development and tourism minister, in a statement announcing the contest.

This is the second time a startup competition has been launched specifically for Cape Breton. Innovacorp initiated its I-3 competition as a contest for Cape Breton entrepreneurs in 2005, and the winner was Mabou’s Halifax Biomedical, now one of the mainstays of the province’s medical device industry.

I-3 proved so successful that Innovacorp decided to make it a provincial event two years later.

The Cape Breton tech community doesn’t get the credit it deserves in the discussion of hotspots for innovation and commercialization in the region.

Halifax’s GoInstant, which was sold to Salsforce of San Francisco for more than $70 million in 2012, was initially conceived by Sydney residents Gavin Uhma and Kirk MacPhee. And the region hosts a number of other venture capital-backed companies, such as Halifax Biomedical, Health Outcomes Worldwide of New Waterford and Marcato Digital of Sydney.

Entrants in Spark Cape Breton must be based in Cape Breton or the Mulgrave area and have a new knowledge-based product. Companies with any sales are not allowed to enter.

The judges will be asked to evaluate the entrants based on the idea, the strength of the management team, and the clarity and persuasiveness of written and oral presentations.

The deadline for entering the contest is 5 p.m. on Feb. 20. The winners will be announced March 20. More information is available at innovacorp.ca.

Meanwhile, Innovacorp has received business plans from the 25 semifinalists in the I-3 competition, five each from five zones. It will announce the zone winners and runners-up Jan. 27 and the overall winner Feb. 12.