The Nova Scotia Health Innovation Hub and QEII Health Sciences Centre Foundation are looking for applicants to their Innovation Den pitch competition, which offers companies up to $100,000 to bring new medical technologies to market.

The event, slated to be held November 14, will have two divisions: one for healthcare workers interested in innovating within their existing careers, and one for startups. Companies pitching in the startup division will compete for the Rising Innovator Award, worth $20,000, the Accelerator Award, worth $50,000 and the $100,000 New Path Award.

“Modeled after the popular series Dragons’ Den, six aspiring innovators will live pitch their business concept and product idea to a panel of Den Judges who collectively will decide the order of the winning pitches,” say organizers.

“Locally driven projects will be evaluated on several key factors including a clear objective with measures in place for evaluation, scalability potential, and overall ability to advance clinical care and patient outcomes.”

Last year’s winner was Hollo Medical, which is developing an improved spacer for asthma inhalers. Ordinary spacers are too large to conveniently carry and have high non-compliance rates, especially among children. But Hollo’s Bre-Z Chamber spacer is designed to be smaller and more portable than conventional options.

You can learn more and apply here.