BioNova Names Six BIC Junior 2020 Finalists

By October 27, 2020BICJr, News

BIC Junior 2020 Finalists Announced

BioNova names six student finalists for their BIC Junior youth pitch competition for the health and life sciences sector taking place on Tuesday, November 3rd at 9:00 am at the virtual BioPort conference. BIC Junior is a youth pitch competition that inspires Nova Scotia’s high school students (grades 9-12) to create a business idea for the health and life sciences sector that has real commercialization potential.

With the support and guidance of BioNova, as well as sponsors MNP and partners Brillant Labs and BBI’s Business is Jammin’, students are given the knowledge and skills necessary to create their business idea and pitch it to a panel of judges during BioPort. For many participants, this will be greatly influential to mapping out their future career. The winner of the pitch competition will be rewarded a cash prize of $2,000 to go towards their business initiative or education. Those who have BioPort tickets will be able to watch the pitches on the virtual platform but the event will be live-streamed on our website for the public. Check out our BIC Junior judges and finalists below!

BIC Junior 2020 Judges: 

  • Kathleen Mitchell – Manager, Assurance and Business Advisory, MNP
  • Sarah Upshaw – PLANS (Promoting Leadership in Health for African Nova Scotians) Program Manager, Dalhousie University
  • Alisha Collins – Creativity Catalyst, Brilliant Labs

BIC Junior 2020 Finalists:

  1. Nova Scotia STI Locator (Natalie Mitchell & Paige Kanasevich – Dartmouth High School)
  • Creating an STI locator app to include possible symptoms, health resources, and a map in general areas so you can see if there is an outbreak near you. The map will work the same as the new COVID-19 tracking website.
  1. MyOnline Mentor (Maura Murphy – Dartmouth High School)
  • This online mentoring service will give children and youth access to a trained youth volunteer that will listen, answer questions and direct them to helpful resources. Volunteers will develop into great mentors with appropriate training and be able to listen and learn by talking with junior high and elementary students.
  1. Counselor Hours (Jarodi Thompson – Dartmouth High School)
  • Our idea is for mandatory Counselor hours, in which, students have a set amount of hours for a week where they are obligated to sit and talk with a Counselor or certified teacher.
  1. RoboMed (Xavier Hill – Bicentennial Junior High)
  • This initiative would be to take two existing technologies, robotics and medical testing, and put them together to improve the healthcare sector.
  1. Sterling’s Medical Laundry Services (Tarelle Sterling – Prince Andrew High School)
  • This service is designed to assist health care workers with more time to follow strict deadlines and deal with other important tasks instead of running back and forth from the laundry room to clean and take care of dirty linen.
  1. MultiCard (Owen Gravel – Dartmouth High School)
  • This product is needed because the youth obesity rate is getting higher each year. The main reason for this is because paying for a monthly or yearly membership is very expensive. If you give someone the option to have access to all their favorite gyms.

If you want the full BioPort experience you can register here.