British Columbia Innovation Council

Congratulations to SemiosBIO Technologies for progressing to the 3^rd round of this year's BCIC-New Ventures Competition. Earlier this summer, semiosBIO was one of 14 startups awarded $5,000 worth (40 hours) of services from UBC's University Industry Liaison Office (UILO) earlier this year as part the entrepreneurship@UBC program, a campus wide initiative, led by the Sauder School of Business, the Faculty of Applied Science, the Faculty of Science and the UILO.

SemiosBIO creates natural pheromone-based pest control products for agriculture and households. Unlike conventional pesticides, pheromones are non-toxic, biodegrade quickly and are used in minute quantities - providing safe and sustainable pest control. The startups' biopesticide solutions address the following unmet pest control needs:

• agriculture needs for organic products
• households and commercial needs for pest-free spaces
• forestry needs to protect resources.

semiosBIO has two products in development. They are:

1) semiosNET: an area-wide agriculture pest control system based on the metered and controlled release of natural pheromones and

2) semiosGUARD: a bedbug infestation control based on the localized and controlled release of repellents.

The top ten companies advancing to the fourth and final round of the competition will be announced August 31, 2011. The finalists, each vying for a piece of the $375,000 in prize packages, will be awarded September 22, 2011 in Vancouver.

Learn more about the BCIC-New Ventures Competition and the 2^nd annual regional competition launching this fall at www.newventuresbc.com or on Twitter.  The five-month, three-round BCIC-New Ventures Competition: Regional is open to any BC resident located outside metro Vancouver who has not yet secured significant financing from outside investors

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