Cattle breeding, sewage treatment tech up for contest win
Two P.E.I. innovation companies are in the running for a prestigious award.
The Bio-Innovation Challenge, offered by Halifax-based Bionova, is designed to encourage early-stage technology companies in the Maritimes. Bionova represents companies working in Nova Scotia in vaccine and drug development, medical technologies and research organizations.
There are eight semi-finalists in the challenge, two of them from P.E.I. The winner will get $15,000 in cash, and $30,000 in support services and mentoring.
Island Water Technologies of Montague made the semi-finals with its prototype for a small, solar-powered sewage treatment plant.
"It's a sewage treatment system that fits in a container," company co-founder Jason Aspin told CBC News.
"The technology that's in it allows it to operate on much less energy than a typical system, and it's able to service 20 to 200 houses. It kind of fits in between these large centralized sewage systems and a septic tank which you could fit at your house. Somewhere in between there needs to be a good solution for smaller communities. We're trying to offer one that's competitive and innovative."
Aspin said they hope to begin selling the systems in the next few months.
Matt Crane of Kensington's precise.ai, who grew up on a dairy farm, has developed a sensor that tells farmers when a cow is ready to breed. Crane said knowing the precise time a cow is fertile increases the success of artificial insemination and embryo transfer, both of which are expensive.
Winning the Bio-Innovation Challenge would really give precise.ai a boost, he said.
"It would be a big step in moving our prototype to the production design," said Crane.
"It's a long tough road to get there but we're determined to build this system."
The eight semi-finalists are in Halifax Tuesday for a workshop on pitching their ideas. They will go before the judges there in October.
