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Surrey Board of Trade Announces 2019 Surrey Innovation Awards Winners with Steve Forbes as Keynote Speaker

© A Master Media
© A Master Media

Surrey, BC – On Wednesday, November 20th, the Surrey Board of Trade presented two winners with the Surrey Innovation Awards at the 6th annual event. Wednesday’s event featured Steve Forbes, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of Forbes Media, as keynote speaker, with a captivating discussion on how to navigate the economy for business growth and success. His presentation highlighted how entrepreneurship requires both risk and cooperation. He conveyed a message that businesses should strive to produce happiness, not money, to lead to success. Mr. Forbes also gave a clear affirmation that breakthroughs in healthcare are key to our future.

The City of Surrey is becoming a regional, national and international hub of technological innovation. The Surrey Board of Trade is playing an instrumental role in igniting a new narrative for our great city. Through the Surrey Innovation Awards the SBOT has created a must attend platform to celebrate entrepreneurial accomplishment in the tech space in Surrey, while educating the larger community about the importance of this emerging field for a thriving Surrey economy. At the SBOT, we know that supporting innovation requires something of a cultural shift in how we attract and support innovation. Indeed, the scaffolding to support innovation is about creating, promoting and sustaining a can-do spirit of innovation that is igniting conversations across the whole city. Through events like the Surrey Innovation Awards the SBOT is creating space to ensure the business community comes together to share and grow innovation in Surrey.

This year’s winners are:

Small Business Award – NovaBio Rubber Green Rubber Technologies

NovaBio Rubber was founded in 2009 primarily as a solution for latex allergies and to satisfy a growing market demand for rubber. After obtaining a US patent for a green rubber recovery process, Nova Bio started growing annual rubber plants called taraxacum kok-saghyz, also known as TKS. This plant contains significant amounts of rubber at 24% and inulin at 40%. Rubber is then extracted as liquid latex. Just recently, the liquid latex from TKS was declared by NRC Canada and Akron Rubber Development Lab as hypoallergenic. NovaBio Rubber has completed the development of a prototype rubber extractor and has manufactured a large-scale rubber extractor and rubber purifier. This innovation is set to make British Columbia a hub for the production of hypoallergenic latex, helping both the manufacturing and agriculture industry in BC. NovaBio Rubber is a recipient of the 2019 UK Med-Tech Innovation Award.

Large Business Award – NeuroCatch Inc.

NeuroCatch Inc. is a subsidiary of HealthTech Connex. Combining readily available brainwave technology with accessible software, a platform was developed as the world’s first to objectively and physiologically measure brain function: the NeuroCatch™ Platform. The result, after years of R&D efforts, is a fully automated, rapid, and user-friendly neurotechnology with an intuitive and simple output –  “a yardstick for brain function” that “gives 120/80 for the brain.” In March 2019, the NeuroCatch™ Platform received its Medical Device License from Health Canada. The results of their commercialization efforts have been astounding, with the NeuroCatch™ Platform now in use across Canada – including renowned facilities in Surrey, Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, and Ottawa. This innovative brain technology not only impacts families and communities today, but also the way we understand brain health for generations to come.

Gold Sponsor: Health and Technology District

Silver Sponsors: Everbright Media and SFU Innovates

Bronze Sponsors: BM Group of Companies and Copytek Print Centre

Award Sponsors: Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers and Kwantlen Polytechnic University

Community Sponsors: Canadian Western Bank, New York Institute of Technology – Vancouver, and Safe Software

Media Sponsor: BC Business and Surrey NOW-Leader

For further information, please contact Anita Huberman, CEO, Surrey Board of Trade, at anita@businessinsurrey.com or at 604.634.0342.

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