BioNova, Nova Scotia’s life sciences association, has named six student finalists for its BIC Junior youth pitch competition, which will take place at the virtual BioPort conference on November 3.

The contest is intended to inspire Nova Scotia's high school students to create a business idea for the health and life sciences sector that has real commercialization potential.

The contest is supported by sponsors MNP and partners Brillant Labs and the Black Busines Initiative's Business is Jammin' and gives students the knowledge and skills to create their business idea and pitch it to a panel of judges.

In a statement, BioNova named the young finalists as:

Nova Scotia STI Locator (Natalie Mitchell & Paige Kanasevich – Dartmouth High School)
Creating an STI locator app to include possible symptoms, health resources, and a map in general areas so you can see if there is an outbreak near you. The map will work the same as the new COVID-19 tracking website.

MyOnline Mentor (Maura Murphy – Dartmouth High School)
This online mentoring service will give children and youth access to a trained youth volunteer that will listen, answer questions and direct them to helpful resources. Volunteers will develop into great mentors with appropriate training and be able to listen and learn by talking with junior high and elementary students.

Counselor Hours (Jarodi Thompson – Dartmouth High School)
Our idea is for mandatory Counselor hours, in which, students have a set amount of hours for a week where they are obligated to sit and talk with a Counselor or certified teacher.

RoboMed (Xavier Hill – Bicentennial Junior High)
This initiative would be to take two existing technologies, robotics and medical testing, and put them together to improve the healthcare sector.

Sterling’s Medical Laundry Services (Tarelle Sterling – Prince Andrew High School)
This service is designed to assist health care workers with more time to follow strict deadlines and deal with other important tasks instead of running back and forth from the laundry room to clean and take care of dirty linen.

MultiCard (Owen Gravel – Dartmouth High School)
This product will give users access to their favourite gyms, and is needed because the youth obesity rate is getting higher each year and gym memberships are expensive.  

The pitch contest will occur Tuesday at 9:00 am. The winner will receive a cash prize of $2,000 to go towards their business initiative or education. Those who have BioPort tickets will be able to watch the pitches on the virtual platform and the event will be live-streamed here.