The heads of four Atlantic Canadian companies have been named to the short-list for the 2019 Ernest C. Manning Innovation Awards, which presents cash prizes of up to $100,000 to winners.
The award organizers this week announced a list of leaders from 18 companies across the country, who are the “qualifying nominees” for the awards this year. The Manning Awards usually hold a reception in Atlantic Canada in the summer to recognize the region’s finalists, and a national event later in the year. Winners receive one of four cash prizes, ranging from the $100,000 Principal Award to $10,000 Innovation Awards.
The Manning Awards are among the most prestigious competitions for innovation companies in Canada because of the size of the prize package and the rigorous selection process across the country.
The nominees from Atlantic Canada are:
- Tony Chedrawy, President and CEO of MetOcean Telematics, Dartmouth – MetOcean Telematics develops state-of-the-art data acquisition and end-to-end telematics solutions. Telematics is the segment of IT that deals with the long-distance transmission of computerized information. Chedrawy led the merger of MetOcean Data Systems and JouBeh Technologies to create MetOcean Telematics three years ago.
- Travis McDonough, Founder and CEO of Kinduct Technologies, Halifax – Kinduct’s Athlete Management System is used by well over 100 professional and elite sports organizations to gain information on the human body and specific athletes. The software helps these organizations collect, organize, share and analyze data on one centralized platform, leading to more informed decisions. It draws from more than 500 data sources and includes the world’s largest library of medical animation. The company last raised funding in a US$9 million round led by Intel Capital in October, 2016.
- Jordan Kyriakidis, Founder and CEO of QRA Corp., Halifax – QRA has developed design verification technology that helps manufacturers identify problems with sophisticated machinery while still in the design phase. The company builds solutions for manufacturers and engineers that analyze complex systems and requirements at crucial stages of development. The company’s products help engineers to devise better requirements and detect design errors early in the design process.
- Bethany Deshpande and Nicholas Clermont, Co-Founders of SomaDetect, Fredericton and Buffalo, N.Y. – Just a little more than two years old, SomaDetect provides dairy farms with hardware and software that can scan a cow’s milk and provide instant data regarding the cow's health. Currently, farmers rely on monthly data to make management decisions. With SomaDetect, farmers have access to daily measurements for every cow. The company, which has raised funding from a range of American and Canadian investors, has been working on installations of its technology at Cornell University and 28 farms.
McDonough posted on LinkedIn that it “is truly an honour to be considered for Canada's most prestigious innovation awards. I couldn’t have got this far without the support of my hardworking Kinduct team.”
The Manning finalists from Atlantic Canada last year were: Mark Wood of Ocean Sonics in Great Village, NS; Chris Cowper-Smith, Stephen Fitzgerald and Robert Garrish of Spring Loaded Technology in the Halifax area; and Scott Everett of Eigen Innovations in Fredericton.
Past Atlantic Canadian winners of Manning Awards include Robert Niven, Founder and CEO of Dartmouth-based CarbonCure Technologies, and Glenn Cox, Founder of Charlottetown-based Rupture Seal. They won Innovation Awards in 2016 and 2014 respectively.
