Several Vancouver-based startups and other technology companies were honoured at last week’s Technology Impact Awards, put on by the BC Technology Industry Association (BCTIA).
Vancouver’s QuickMobile took the Emerging Company of the Year, UrtheCast took Most Promising Pre-Commerical Technology, PHEMI Health Systems took Most Promising Startup.
The theme of the awards this year was of ‘BC’s Mark on the World’. BCTIA said the finalists “embolden British Columbia’s reputation for global excellence across a wide range of technologies including enterprise software, hardware, health care and cleantech.”
Read Also: The 100 Mile Diet for Tech: In Conversation with the BCTIA’s Bill Tam
Here’s the 2014 winners:
Adoption of Technology – FCV Technologies and WorkBC and “Usable Labour Market Data”
With a goldmine of labour market data, much of it inaccessible to the average citizen, WorkBC tasked FCV to recreate the WorkBC website and improve access to the information that would ultimately improve labour market mobility in the province. With its user experience, strategy, creative and technology experience, FCV created the Labour Market Navigator, a new heart to the WorkBC site. This new tool translates labour market statistics into easy-to-understand infographics organized by region, industry and occupation.
Improvements have led to a 300% increase in registered employers who now post up to 400 new jobs per day.
Community Engagement – Traction on Demand
One of the first certified Benefit Corporations (BCorps) in Canada, Traction on Demand is a company that lives its values. Facilitating its tremendous growth is a view of Traction as a community, not a company. For Traction, community engagement starts from within; with an environment that stimulates innovation, encourages hard work, fosters friendships and rewards teamwork. Traction enjoys supporting clients that serve a purpose greater than profit. Their Traction for Good community engagement program provides pro-bono and grant-based Salesforce.com implementation services, donations and volunteerism to non-profits.
Emerging Company of the Year – QuickMobile
QuickMobile is transforming meetings and events with mobile apps that engage and delight audiences. QuickMobile’s event app platform creates an always-on communication channel that allows event owners to increase attendee participation, build loyalty and generate revenue through richer experiences. With more than 180 employees, QuickMobile had a tremendous year: the company delivered more than 100 multi-event applications, 40 of which to Fortune 100 companies; opened its European office in London; and added two new products to its portfolio.
Excellence in Product Innovation – CoolEdge Lighting
The first wave of LED light sources bundled LED’s into traditional lightbulb form factors. The second wave packaged this new light source into traditional light fixtures. Now, Cooledge Lighting is leading a third wave where light sources are incorporated directly into building materials or mounted onto any surface. At the heart of its innovation are light sheets, flexible thin plastic substrates which incorporate mid-power LEDs in a cost-effective manner. The flexibility of these substrates allows them to be shaped into a wide range of architectural surfaces while the product architecture allows the sheets to be cut to size in the field. http://www.cooledge.com
Most Promising Pre-Commercial Technology – UrtheCast
UrtheCast is developing the world’s first Ultra HD Earth video stream from space, in full colour. Working in partnership with leading space organizations like RSC Energia, UrtheCast has installed two cameras on the International Space Station (ISS) and will soon unveil its Ultra HD Earth video and its interactive web platform. UrtheCast works in partnership with educational, scientific, environmental, humanitarian, governmental and corporate organizations across the planet. To accomplish this, video and still imagery of the Earth will be captured, streamed, collected, and distributed to UrtheCast’s data partners and to the company’s interactive platform.
Read Also: Watching Earth from Space: UrtheCast is Showing How We’re all in This Together
Most Promising Startup – PHEMI Health Systems
With a data collection and Big Data platform that eliminates the clinical-research divide, PHEMI’s mission is to unlock patient data for clinicians, administrators and researchers. Creating a powerful feedback loop called the PHEMI Integrated Knowledge Network, PHEMI aggregates vast amounts of clinical patient information from the point-of-care, stores it in a highly secure private library, and allows approved researchers to mine the information for important insights. These insights then flow back to clinicians to improve subsequent care. The company was co-founded by a team of serial entrepreneurs and St. Paul’s Hospital cardiologists who are committed to tackling some of the fundamental challenges facing health care today.
Read Also: Not a Silver Bullet, But Close: PHEMI’s Prescription for Fixing the Health Care System
Team of the Year – Schneider Electric
In early 2013, Schneider Electric’s Solar Business made a crucial decision to proceed with development of a revolutionary 1500V power conversion platform for utility-scale solar plants. A critical first step was to design and build a $13M, 20,000 sq. ft. high power MicroGrid Lab. With the lab complete, Schneider Electric now has the in-house capability to test revolutionary products at power levels unprecedented in solar. Schneider Electric’s global solar business is comprised of 450 employees, with approximately half of this workforce located at their Burnaby headquarters.
Close to 1,000 people from the technology and business community converged at the Vancouver Convention Centre to celebrate the successes of British Columbia’s top technologies, companies and individuals.
“Tonight’s winners and finalists bring to light the diversity of BC’s technology sector, and illustrate the increasing maturity that we’re seeing with our companies,” said Bill Tam, president and CEO of BCTIA. “We congratulate the winners and finalists, thank them for their contributions, and for helping to put BC on the map as a tech powerhouse.”