Innovacorp will be adding a boot-camp component to its I3 Technology Startup Competition when the event launches the autumn to help the contestants build their businesses.

I3 is a biennial startup competition that picks the best business ideas from around Nova Scotia. The competition is sponsored by the early stage venture capital firm, Innovacorp, which is a client of Entrevestor.

A panel of Nova Scotia lawyers, entrepreneurs and leaders choose the five best business ideas, one from each of the five zones across the province. Each zone winner receives $100,000. The five zone winners then compete for an extra $100,000 to launch their businesses.

The new boot-camp will give each zone winner access to mentors from Nova Scotia’s business community and provide resources to research their consumer markets as they compete for the extra $100,000.

“The point is, let’s create value for the companies through the process itself,” Innovacorp CEO Steven Duff said.

In the 2013-14 I3 Competition, Innovacorp received 228 applications. Since its 2013-14 victory, Heimdall Networks, a Sydney-based network security company, raised additional funds and gained more market traction.

Innovacorp allocates close to $1 million toward the I3 Competition. Duff said that the I3 Competition aims to increase the number of startups and the level of entrepreneurship in Nova Scotia.

“The province of Nova Scotia’s future—economic and quality of life—I think will largely a function of the entrepreneurial spirit of the people of the province,” Duff added. “It will be entrepreneurship that will help this province get on a path for prosperity, so we’re very proud to deliver the I3 Startup Competition and work toward those very important goals.”

The I3 Competition will begin accepting submissions in the fall of 2015.