iftech and sound options announced as the $25,000 winners ... · along with the $25,000 prize,...
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IFTech and Sound Options Announced as the $25,000 Winners of Ignite Start-up Competition
Durham Region ON, (November 20, 2015) — Spark Innovation Centre is pleased to announce IFTech as the Young Entrepreneur winner and Sound Options as the General Entrepreneur winner of the 2015 Ignite competition. Both companies have taken the top prize of $25,000 each.
Inventing Future Technology Inc. (“IFTech”) co-founded by son and father duo Brodie Stanfield and Michael Stanfield are innovators in wearable technology, leading the next generation of immersive gaming. Their first product is ARAIG (As Real As It Gets), a high-tech, multi-sensory gaming suit. The ARAIG gaming suit provides a new unique immersive experience through multi-sensory feedback. Whether it is for gaming, training, virtual reality, augmented awareness or another market entirely, ARAIG can deliver the most cutting edge technology to its users.
Sound Options, founded by Dr. Michael Chrostowski, designs accessible and affordable treatments for chronic ringing in the ears known as tinnitus. The company works with hearing clinics to provide patients with a software-generated customized sound therapy embedded in music. Using current knowledge of the brain changes that trigger tinnitus, the treatments are tailored to each individual using cutting-edge software that takes into account a person’s tinnitus and hearing loss.
Along with the $25,000 prize, these two companies will be given free office space in Spark Centre’s head office The Loft, located in Oshawa, and will also join Spark Innovation Centre’s Thrive Accelerator Program which offers significant advisory and business support services to achieve a faster market entry.
“I am continuously impressed with the amount of entrepreneurial talent in Durham Region. The level of competition this year was at its highest and I congratulate all 72 companies who participated throughout the process,” said Dennis Croft, President & CEO of Spark Innovation Centre. “Congratulations to IFTech and Sound Options, two incredibly dedicated and hard-working companies. Spark Centre is looking forward to being a part of their journey and continued success.”
About Ignite: Currently in its third year, Ignite is an exciting entrepreneurial journey organized by Spark Innovation Centre. The competition is an extensive journey which includes a 60 second pitch competition, a three minute pitch competition, and a 30 minute boardroom presentation in front of the Ignite Power Panel before two $25,000 winners are chosen. For more information visit ignitedurham.ca.
About Spark Centre: Spark Commercialization and Innovation Centre is one of eighteen not-for-profit Regional Innovation Centres (RICs) that form part of the Ontario Network of Entrepreneurs (ONE). The centre works to improve competitiveness and visibility of Durham Region and Northumberland County as a world-class innovation cluster. For more information on Spark Centre, please visit www.sparkcentre.org
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Two Young Sisters Launch Their Business with a Kickstarter Campaign The Barton sisters, aged 9 and 8, are making an impact with their new lip balm business, BeBe Bartoons
Haliburton, ON (March 24, 2015) – Danielle, age 9 and Heather, age 8 like many girls their age love to collect lip balm. When the girls saw an opportunity for a new brand of collectible lip balm with an animal theme, they ran with the idea. Together with their parents, they have created their own business called BeBe Bartoons. BeBe Bartoons offers refillable lip balm in animal cases. All animal characters tops and bottoms are interchangeable making it easy to mix and match. These cute animal lip balms are now being released through a Kickstarter campaign. Danielle and Heather are looking for funds to create new animal molds for mass production. “Our goal is to see every kid receive a BeBe Bartoons lip balm. We hope people will support us on Kickstarter and have fun mixing and matching the fun BeBe Bartoons animals,” says Danielle. The Barton family is also receiving some support from CBC’s Dragon’s Den. The family auditioned in Oshawa with thousands of other participants and have been selected to appear on an upcoming episode to pitch their company to the dragons. Check out their campaign on Kickstarter and start collecting your BeBe Bartoons lip balm today: http://kck.st/1ECGIlj About BeBe Bartoons: BeBe Bartoons was started by the Barton family in 2014 in their hometown of Haliburton, Ontario. The company sells collectible lip balm in animal shapes with the goal of releasing two new animal shapes every season. BeBe Bartoons is interchangeable, refillable and has a heart shaped lip balm interior.
-30- Media Contact: Amanda Reynolds Public Relations and Media Manager, Spark Innovation Centre [email protected] 905-432-3999 x 122
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
IFTech Announce Open Beta of ARAIG Software Development Kit Companies can now integrate the ARAIG gaming suit technology into their software
Oshawa ON (January 4, 2016) - IFTech Inventing Future Technology Inc. are pleased to announce the Software Development Kit (SDK) for ARAIG, a high-tech, multi-sensory gaming suit is now in Open Beta. The ARAIG gaming suit provides a unique immersive experience through multi-sensory feedback. Whether it is for gaming, training, virtual reality, augmented awareness or another market entirely, ARAIG can deliver the most cutting edge technology to its users. The ARAIG SDK is used to integrate the ARAIG gaming suit into software and applications to properly activate the suit’s various sensors. The previous closed beta version made it easy to develop, debug and demonstrate the functionality of the ARAIG suit while simultaneously running your software and applications. Now in open beta, developers have greater control over the functionality allowing the ability to provide “signature” sensory stimulation to the user for any sensory output in their virtual world. ARAIG Software Development Kit provides:
Ability to evaluate functionality before purchasing a DevKit
Ability to learn how to integrate the ARAIG SDK into software and applications
A robust Visualization Tool to support the development and demonstration of ARAIG integration and functionality
Access to developer support
Ability to provide feedback to help IFTech better support the needs of developers For companies who are interested in the ARAIG Software Development Kit, or to be placed on the reservation list for the ARAIG Development Kit, please email [email protected]. To receive a confidential developer license agreement to get your exclusive access, please provide the following information:
Company Name Company Address Contact Information (Name, Email, Phone Number)
The window for private demos of the ARAIG suit will be opening soon. To get on this reservation list, please email [email protected]. As a future business partner with IFTech, you will be on the leading edge of your marketplace. About IFTech: Created in 2008 by father and son Michael and Brodie Stanfield, IFTech Inventing Future Technology Inc. is a high tech innovation company creating solutions to improve and bring about change across as many industries as possible. Their first product, ARAIG As Real As It Gets is a fully immersive, multi-sensory gaming suit.