Innovacorp has launched its fifth I-3 Technology Startup Competition, in which startups from across Nova Scotia vie for as much as $950,000 in development funding.

The Nova Scotia innovation agency kicked off the competition last week with a series of events across the province that are continuing this week.

Like the Breakthru competition hosted by the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation, the goal of I-3 is to encourage people with a business idea to submit an application and then develop the idea into a business as they go through the process. The process includes feedback from Innovacorp and a range of judges, various mentoring events and a challenging program to separate the wheat from the chaff.

“For me, the best thing we do is to put you through this rigorous process where you find out whether (your business idea) is just pie in the sky or something that could really work,” Innovacorp CEO Stephen Duff said at the launch in Halifax on Friday.

Related story: Competitions Heat Up in Cape Breton

The twin goals of the competition are to help create more companies (a key objective of the Ivany report) and to make sure the companies have a decent chance of success. Duff stressed that I-3 is for entrepreneurs willing to commit to working full time on their project. Two years ago, a total of 228 companies entered the competition.

I-3 is designed so that as many as 16 companies could receive prizes of cash and in-kind services that can be used to develop their company.

It divides the province into five zones, and Innovacorp will award a $100,000 first prize and $40,000 second prize for each zone. The five winners from these zones are eligible for a grand prize, which is an additional $100,000.

The competition also has six sector-based prizes, awarding $25,000 sums to the leading entrants in information technology, life sciences, clean technology, ocean industries, agricultural technology and waste diversion technology. (The final two are new categories this year.)

Contestants can win both the regional and sectoral prizes. For example, last year Sydney-based Heimdall Networks won the grand prize, top honours for the Cape Breton region and the IT sector prize, for a total payday of $225,000.

Innovacorp has added a two-week boot camp to the process this year with the goal of enhancing the mentorship. Also, in an effort to get better pitches, Innovacorp is letting entrants submit a preliminary submission and receive feedback on how the final submission should be strengthened.

Final submissions are due by 5 p.m. on Oct. 15, and the winner will be announced at a reception in Halifax on Feb. 3. Details on the competition are available at the Innovacorp website.

Full disclosure: Innovacorp is a client of Entrevestor.