British Columbia Innovation Council

Vancouver's Polymer Research Technology's polyurethane waste recycling system took home the $130,000 first prize at the annual BCIC-New Ventures Competition last night. In total, eight prizes totaling nearly $400,000 were handed out to early-stage BC tech companies.

The six month boot camp for startups provides competitors with a unique mix of seminars, networking and mentoring as they learn to develop their idea into a profitable company. This year's competition attracted applications from 178 companies. In May, 40 companies were shortlisted and in June, the number was further reduced to 25. Earlier this month, the final 10 companies were announced.

Polymer's technology takes polyurethane waste destined for landfills and turns it into a recycled polyol (RECYCLOPOL ®) that can be reused by the manufacturers to make more polyurethane. Polyurethane wastes that are generated by product producers within this industry (thermal insulation, mattresses, automotives, coatings, main incubators, space labs, aviation and many others) end up in landfills, with devastating non-reversible environmental effects.  Polymers do not decompose, remaining in landfills for thousands of years.

RewardLoop of Vancouver was awarded the BCIC second prize valued at $70,000 and the Plug-n-Play Tech Centre  prize valued at $10,000. Creators of a universal consumer loyalty network for the mobile age, RewardLoop prints secure, transaction-identifying rewards program barcodes (QR codes) on bills and receipts and can measurably increase revenue by 5% or more for independent and chain merchants.

The BCIC third prize totaling $40,000 went to MineSense Technologies Ltd. MineSense has developed the mining industry's first mineral-specific sensor technology to accurately detect and reject barren waste rock from low-grade nickel and copper ores, significantly reducing energy and costs, while increasing metal recovery and profitability at the mine.

Additional prizes were awarded to startups with technologies focused on sustainability, bioenergy, social ventures and agritech. These went to:

• Awesense Wireless Inc won the $40,000 BC Hydro Sustainability prize for its mobile wireless smart sensors that help identify key areas of electrical loss.

• Diacarbon Energy Inc won the $20,000 BC Bioenergy Network prize for its technology that converts waste biomass into value added products in small to medium sized renewable energy plants, called Biomass Refineries.

• FundRazr won the $15,000 Vancity Social Venture prize for its easy to use fundraising platform that enables users to collect donations directly through PayPal's secure online platform.

• GreenScene AgriTek Inc won the $30,000 Shildroth Agritech Innovation first prize for its new technology that reclaims horse bedding's wood component so that it can be reused as eco-friendly bedding.

• Diacarbon Energy Inc and KOK Technologies split the $20,000 Shildroth Agritech Innovation second prize ($10,000 each). Diacarbon's technology converts waste biomass into value added products in small to medium sized renewable energy plants while KOK Technologies develops "green" innovative processing technologies for the production of alternative natural rubber and latex from annual rubber-bearing plants.

Congratulations to all winners!

---