Innovacorp has launched a new competition called Spark West to identify and provide seed capital for startups in western Nova Scotia.

Spark West is the counterpart to Spark Cape Breton, which for the past three years has been helping to launch companies in Cape Breton and the Mulgrave area. Each year, it has awarded development capital of up to $50,000 to companies that have the potential to grow. The provincial innovation agency this week announced seven winners of the 2016 competition.

“Two and a half years ago we piloted a competition called Spark Cape Breton to energize the technology community in that part of Nova Scotia,” said Innovacorp in a statement on its website. “We’ve since run three more rounds there, seeing the quality of start-ups rise each time.”

The agency is now looking for new companies based in western Nova Scotia -- Lunenburg, Queens, Shelburne, Yarmouth, Digby, Annapolis, Kings and Hants counties. The company must involve a knowledge-based product, preferably in the IT, life sciences, clean tech or ocean tech segments.

The winners, who will be notified on Nov. 10, will receive as much as $50,000 in development capital, depending on the potential and complexity of their project. The money must be used to develop the company.

Applications, which must be submitted by 5 pm on Oct. 11, can be found here.

Disclaimer: Innovacorp is a client of Entrevestor.