Innovacorp yesterday released the names of the 25 finalists in its I-3 innovation competition.

I’ve cut-and-pasted below Innovacorp’s list of companies plus a short description of each.

There are a few  – GMS Surface Tech, Mindful Scientific, MediaSpark – that Entrevestor has featured previously, and MediaSpark was profiled in the Chronicle-Herald today.  

I have two thoughts on the long-list: first, there were only six entries from Zone 2 (South Shore and Yarmouth) and five of them are now on the short-list, but I’m familiar with a couple of them and at first glance there doesn’t seem to be a dilution of quality.

And second, it’s interesting that four of the five Halifax-area finalists are from the biotech space. I imagine BioNova will be thrilled by that.

The I-3 competition awards $100,000 in cash and services to winners in five regions across the province, and another $100,000 to the provincial winner.  The finalists must now present a full business plan to the organizers by Dec. 15.

Following is the list of finalists:

Zone 1 (Cumberland, Colchester, Pictou, Antigonish and Guysborough counties)

Gamertag World Inc. – Alexander Julien, Christopher Googoo, Keith Julien Sr. – Millbrook

 A social networking website that allows members to connect, share and play

GMS Surface Tech Ltd. – Gerrard Marangoni, Kulbir Singh, Joe Menchefski – Antigonish

 High performance green surface-cleaning products and other applications of surface chemistry

Pearl & Daisy Natural Soap Company Inc. – Rebecca Taylor – Londonderry

 Safe, natural insect repellent

Water Drills International Inc. – Jim Proudfoot, Lynn Christie – New Glasgow

 An environmentally-friendly household drain cleaning tool

znanja – Tim Houston, Jim Fitt – New Glasgow

 Tool to automatically convert instructor-led training material into eLearning content

Zone 2 (Lunenburg, Queens, Shelburne and Yarmouth counties)

Fridgebook.com – Ian Grant – Bridgewater

Internet site for archiving and sharing children's artwork

Helix Media Publishing – Kirsten Tomilson, Christopher Zimmer – Lunenburg      

 Production and distribution of interactive eBooks

Prometheus Solar Technologies Ltd., Lunenburg Foundry & Engineering Ltd. – Peter Kinley – Lunenburg

High temperature solar technology for energy generation

Van Dyk Specialty Freezing Innovations – Peter Van Dyk, Jeannie Van Dyk, Charles Van Dyk – Caledonia

Quick freezing technology for fresh fruit and vegetables

Ventgrid Inc. – Gord McPherson, Andre Veinotte – Chester

Building construction technology for ventilation and water drainage, made from recycled plastics

Zone 3 (Digby, Annapolis, Kings and Hants counties)

Buzzer Apps Mobile Solutions – Andrew Smiley, Andrew Postma, Lisa Cinnamon, Grant Carstenson – Newport

 Solution for rapid creation and deployment of mobile device applications

Laser GeoDataNet – Chris Hopkinson – Middleton

 3D laser scanning data portal and project consultancy services

Local Information Utility – Trevor Robar, Perry Skipton – Middleton

 GIS information management tool used by governments to organize and manage location-based data  

Phero-Innovation – Kirk Hillier – Wolfville

 Environmentally-friendly pheromone-based pest management solutions

The Bait Savour – Vince Stuart – Meteghan Centre

 A programmable bait release apparatus for all trap fisheries worldwide

Zone 4 (Halifax Regional Municipality)

DeNovaMed Inc. – Christopher McMaster, Donald Weaver, David Byers    – Halifax

 Antibiotics for resistant infections

Densitas – Mohamed Abdolell, Tim Burke, Michael Lee – Halifax

Automated breast density measurement

Mindful Scientific Inc. – Donald Weaver, Christopher Barden – Halifax

 Medical devices to evaluate brain status in concussion and other consciousness disorders

NewCo Scientific – Michael Barr – Halifax

 Tools for the growing biomolecular diagnostics market

Rent Donkey – Duncan Enman – Halifax

 An apartment search engine that combines rental listings from all major sources onto a searchable map

Zone 5 (Victoria, Cape Breton, Inverness and Richmond counties)

Blackrock Electronics – Chris O'Connor – Black Rock

 A hand-held device for calibrating instrumentation such as thermocouples and temperature transmitters

Envidity Inc. – Jeff Brookman, Sandy Laing, Henry Scheil – Calgary

 Underground coal gasification technology with carbon capture to develop un-mineable coal reserves to provide clean energy

J&K Scientific Inc. – Krishnat Naikwadi – Edwardsville

 Gas chromotagraphy (GC) columns used for trace analysis and monitoring techniques in the environmental, petroleum and pharmaceutical industries

MediaSpark Inc. – Mathew Georghiou – Sydney

 A massively multiplayer online business simulation

Synergy Memory Solutions – Todd Mercer – Sydney

 An integratable system to impede a senior citizen's memory loss, using repetition and reflection for retention