Two Halifax teams -- Aging Proactively and Axtion Independence Mobility -- will pitch at industry group AGE-WELL’s National Impact Challenge 2023 in Toronto on Thursday, with a chance to win $25,000 each.  

Nominated in the community category of the competiton, Aging Proactively is the Canadian affiliate of the American non-profit Age-Friendly Institute. It offers a certification for employers looking to demonstrate their readiness to work with older employees via its Certified Age Friendly Employer program, or CAFE. The Canadian arm is run by another non-profit, Aging2.0 Halifax and will be represented at the competition by Mary Kilfoil.

Axtion Independence Mobility, meanwhile, is nominated in the startup category. Founded in 2020 by Travis McGillivray, the company’s flagship product is its Ibex walker, which includes a mechanized seat to help users stand up or recover from falls.

Kilfoil, the executive director of the Canadian Council for Small Business and Entrepreneurship and the former director of Dalhousie University’s Norman Newman Centre for Entrepreneurship, previously arranged for Axtion to compete in the Revolutionize pitch competition in Boston last year.

“Employers are welcoming the opportunity to embrace older adults, apply a proven standard about what is required to be age-friendly, and learn best practices and benchmarks from like-minded employers,” said Kilfoil of Aging Proactively in a statement.

The press release went on to say that Aging Proactively is working with 20 member businesses of the Tourism Industry Assocation of Nova Scotia to make the sector more hospitable to mature workers. The work includes television ads aimed at increasing industry participation by older people.

Both Aging Proactively and Axtion will be eligible to win first prizes worth $25,000 or smaller $10,000 awards. Dubbed Bold Innovations for Living, the event itself is a collaboration between AGE-WELL, a group that promotes technology that supports healthy aging, and social enterprise SE Health. which offers a range of services to support innovation in the home healthcare industry.

The event will include a four-minute pitch from each nominee, followed by five minutes apiece of questions. It will run from 3 to 6 p.m. EST. Anyone in Toronto at the time can register to attend here.