Invest Nova Scotia has announced the first six startups participating in its OceanTech Pilot Program, which gives early-stage bluetech companies the chance to test their pre-commercialization products.
The participating companies will split $50,000 of non-dilutive funding to help launch their pilot programs, as well as access to SEATAC, a Nova Scotia Community College entity that offers research services for the private sector.
The startups will also receive a six month membership at Start-Up Yard, the incubator at Dartmouth’s Centre for Ocean Ventures and Entrepreneurship, where they will have access to incubation services, mentorship and shared manufacturing equipment.
Here’s a look at the participating companies:
Lawrence Taylor
Dartmouth
IntegraSee is developing a way to use mussel behaviour to detect waterborne pathogens that could harm other marine life.
Benjamin Slotnick
Austin, Texas, and Dartmouth
Lillianah is working on technology to repair “hypoxic dead zones” — areas of the ocean where pollution has rendered the oxygen content of the water too low to support life.
Maxwell Poole
Yarmouth
OxeBow is working on a conveyor-based scanning system for fishermen to assess their catches.
Geoff Lebans
Dartmouth
Rising Tide is building acoustic systems for fish deterrence, guidance and attraction, marine mammal deterrence, and control or eradication of invasive species.
Masoud Aali
Pictou
Scient is developing an artificial intelligence system for identifying the minerals in drilling cores taken during mining exploration.
Ahmad Attar
Vancouver and Dartmouth
Traxe is developing a blockchain-based “provenance tag” for premium seafood products. Fake or inaccurately labelled seafood is a widespread problem in the food sector.
