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8th December 2010

Partnerships and Competitions To Benefit The Canadian Psyche

BCIC New VenturesBCIC-New Ventures has announced the top 20 finalists in its newly launched BCIC New Ventures – Regional Competition for early-stage BC technology entrepreneurs based outside the Lower Mainland. Similar to the province-wide competition that celebrated its 10th anniversary in September, the four-month, three-round regional competition includes a unique mix of business education, networking and mentoring. This year’s regional competition attracted more than 40 applications from technology startups across our province.

The winners of the 2010 BCIC-New Ventures Competition: Regional will be announced February 24, 2011 at a special reception in Kelowna. The top 20 finalists include businesses in the life sciences, cleantech, sustainability, new media and high technology sectors:

A22 Rent-A-Bike, AC Global Systems Ltd, EcoMeter by EnviroSpeak Media, Find It EZ, HuStream Technologies Inc.,
Hydra Cat Performance System, JuliasWild.com, KoK Technologies Inc, Map Jungle, MemoryLeaf Media Inc., Rapid Water Testing Ltd., Reef Safe Fish Inc., Resonessence Labs, Ripcharger, SchedulePanda.com, SideStix Ventures Inc.,
Smile software (Smart Menu), TRiBiNET, Vida, Wolf Trailer Company, Inc.

The top 20 companies will now be paired with a team of mentors and will attend a final business education seminar in January. Each company will have one more chance to present to a panel of experts from February 9-11 in Victoria and Kelowna where they will convince a jury of venture capitalists, financiers and angel investors of the commercial viability of their business idea and that they have what it takes to succeed in the marketplace.

BCIC is the title sponsor of the 2010 BCIC-New Ventures Competition: Regional and proud to support the competition’s top three prize packages for a total of $60,000. They include the $30,000 BCIC First Prize, $20,000 BCIC Second Prize and $10,000 BCIC Third Prize. This contribution is part of BCIC’s overall commitment of $390,000 as title sponsor of both the regional and larger provincial technology idea competition advancing BC’s emerging technology industry.

ROVEOttawa-based mobile IT solution company Rove has announced its support for tablet computing form factors. Offering true portability without sacrificing screen resolution, tablets are an ideal platform for business applications, giving users “always-on” access to the systems and services they need to get the job done. Rove Mobile Admin on Samsung Galaxy Tab

“We’re seeing mobility become an integral part of IT Service Management practices, with many of our customers looking at tablets such as the iPad, Galaxy Tab and RIM’s PlayBook as providing an ideal interface for the IT professional on the move,” said Russell Ure, President, Rove. “To this end, providing support for Rove Mobile Admin on tablets is a key priority for us.”

One of eWEEK’s 2010 Products of the Year – “offerings that had the biggest impact in their spaces and that did the most to move enterprise technology forward” – Rove Mobile Admin was singled out along with products by Cisco, VMware, Apple, Microsoft, salesforce.com and Red Hat. Rove Mobile Admin delivers advanced mobile IT administration capability, providing IT staff with comprehensive, secure access to a wide range of servers, services and platforms. With Mobile Admin in hand, IT professionals can identify, diagnose, triage and resolve IT issues without the need for a laptop computer or internet connection, enabling them to reduce network downtime and provide their users with exceptional customer service.

At the forefront of providing mobile IT solutions, Rove will continue to lead this dynamically evolving market and introduce software optimized for the variety of tablets becoming available. To date over 3,000 customers worldwide, including many of the world’s financial institutions, have deployed Rove Mobile Admin – get a free 14 day trial now.

postmedia networkIf you’re looking for newspaper apps, you’re in luck because earlier today Postmedia Network announced that nine Canadian cities now have a new way to experience their local newspapers with new apps for iPad use in the App Store. The ten Canadian newspapers with apps for iPad are: The Vancouver Sun, Times Colonist (Victoria), The Province (Vancouver), the Calgary Herald, the Edmonton Journal, the Leader-Post (Regina), The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon), the Ottawa Citizen, The Windsor Star and The Gazette (Montreal). The Postmedia newspaper apps are available at no cost to the reader. This is made possible through sponsorships from Air Canada, CISCO, Rogers Communications Inc. and Disney’s TRON Legacy.

“This is the latest step in our digital first strategy,” said Malcolm Kirk, Executive Vice President, Digital Media. “By combining innovative technology with our newspapers’ compelling content, we are proud to invite our readers to experience the latest innovation in Canadian publishing, on iPad. The new apps also give our advertisers an opportunity to reach their target audiences in dynamic new ways.”

The new newspaper apps give users a rich and personalized experience and include the following features:

* Heat Map – readers see and read “Stories Around Me” and check out which stories are most popular in their neighbourhoods and across the country
* My Articles – saves and stores articles that users want to read later
* Social Media Tools – the ability to comment live on stories and share with friends through Facebook, Twitter and email
* Integrated Video Player – readers can view a variety of videos within articles
* Photo Gallery – a wealth of high resolution photos and inline photo galleries

Each of the apps takes advantage of iPad’s large, high-resolution display and innovative Multi Touch interface, and feature customized newspaper content pulled from the best of the web and print editions as well as mobile specific content. Readers can download, save, comment, interact and customize the content, their way.

RaytheonRaytheon Canada Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of USA-based Raytheon Company, has partnered with Let’s Talk Science to engage Canadian youth in science and technology. As an innovative technology and engineering company, Raytheon Canada is keenly aware of the need to motivate young people to continue their studies in science and technology.
lets talk science
Let’s Talk Science is an award-winning, national, nonprofit science outreach organization. Let’s Talk Science creates and delivers science learning programs and services that turn kids on to science, keep them engaged in learning, and develop their potential to become 21st century stewards, innovators and citizens.

“Raytheon Canada employs some of the smartest, most innovative and capable engineers in our industry, and we understand that the future of our country depends on the skills of the next generation,” said Denny Roberts, country manager for Raytheon Canada Limited. “This partnership will help meet our responsibilities to young Canadians.”

“Science education opens many more doors for career opportunities than today’s youth realize,” said Let’s Talk Science President and Founder Bonnie Schmidt. “Raytheon Canada, like Let’s Talk Science, understands the acute need to get kids excited about the possibilities of science, so they stay in science in high school and pursue it at the post-secondary level. Through this partnership, we hope to showcase the unique career opportunities available with a background in science, engineering and technology.”

This holiday season, shoppers will have a way to check how busy malls and mall parking lots are before they venture out to buy gifts. PayPal Canada is introducing “mall traffic reports” on Twitter through @PayPalCA. The reports are an easy way for shoppers to share information about wait times, store lineups and congested parking lots by posting tweets or real time pictures, alerting others to the busiest shopping destinations using the hashtag #ESCTheMall.

The campaign is a response to the findings of a recent Ipsos Reid survey conducted on behalf of PayPal Canada, which revealed that half of all Canadians find the crowds and long lines of holiday shopping frustrating. The survey also found that holiday shoppingEscape The Mall takes a lot of time – an average of five trips to the mall and 11 hours for Canadians.

“PayPal’s goal this holiday season is to help those who are frustrated by the typical, overcrowded shopping experience to escape the mall,” said Nicky Mezo, head of marketing at PayPal Canada. “With so many merchants now accepting PayPal through their websites, why not do more of your holiday shopping online, from the warmth and comfort of your home?”

The Twitter feed will also provide online shopping tips as well as timely retail news, and will be integrated with PayPal Canada’s other online platforms including its Blog, Facebook page and Escape The Mall microsite, aimed at helping Canadians find holiday deals online.

In addition, starting today, PayPal is launching a contest through which Canadian shoppers can enter to win a $2,500 online shopping spree. The Escape the Mall contest, promoted through the PayPal Canada Facebook page and a newly-launched microsite, encourages Canadians to vote on the best Holiday gift from a range of gifts available online and runs until December 20th, 2010. Through several rounds of voting, contestants can enter to win one of ten gifts valued at approximately $100 each, and also be entered into a draw for the Grand Prize – $2,500 transferred into their PayPal account.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 8th, 2010 at 9:36 am and is filed under Associations, Awards, Business News, Careers, Contests, Digital Products, Education, National News, Social Media, Software. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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