Grey Island Energy, a St. John’s-based cleantech company, was the run-away winner of the PitchCamp competition that opened Invest Atlantic  on Tuesday.

CEO Daniel Hoyles explained in his one-minute pitch that his company is developing a device that produces electricity using the motion of waves, which could power coastal towns or oil rigs at half the cost of diesel-powered electricity.

“We’re developing a device that is elegant in its simplicity and that can be built in any shipyard,” said Hoyles, whose company operates out of the Genesis Centre at Memorial University of Newfoundland.

Grey Island captured the bragging rights over a dozen other competitors at the competition, which forces entrepreneurs to sum up their business proposition in 60 seconds.

One interesting aspect of the competition is three of the 13 competitors had previously appeared in the startup community with other ventures. I won’t name them, but it’s great to see people moving on to new projects, and no one in the community batting an eye about it.

The other entrants were: 

• Spring Loaded Technology, Halifax, which is developing a knee brace that adds power as well as stability to the knee joint;

• World of Oysters, Halifax, which is developing an adventure tourism business that takes people to Ethiopia;

• Atlantic Motor Labs Inc., Halifax, whose technology improves the productivity and environmental safety of hydraulic fracturing in the oil and gas industry;

• World United CHANGEwear, Charlottetown, a social enterprise that will partner with philanthropic groups to produce T-shirts bearing the message of the group;

• Pitch Perfect Software Inc., Halifax, which allows commercial design consultants and other professionals to improve the look of their proposals to potential clients, and enjoy more flexibility and ease-of-use when collaborating on pitches;

• Arc Instruments Inc., which is developing hardware that allows performers who perform electronic music on their laptops to show their audience how the music is created;

• Whitecap Scientific Corporation, St. John’s, which is developing 3-D camera systems to the underwater Remotely Operated Vehicle industry,  so pilots can operate the vehicles with greater speed and accuracy;

• Presentation Platform, which is developing educational software that helps students learn to speak in public;

• Hyton, Fredericton, which is developing technology that helps businesses to clean up wastewater from their plants without a massive investment in infrastructure;

• Eigan, Fredericton, whose technology uses thermal cameras in manufacturing plants to collect data on heat expenditure with the aim of cutting energy costs;  

• Knowtime, Halifax, which is developing a smartphone app that would collect GPS signals from transit riders and tell people waiting buses how long their wait will be;

• and Vallet.me,  Halifax, which is working on an app that tells drivers in Halifax where they can find parking nearby and for as little as possible.