What happened: The BC Tech Association honoured companies and individuals in the province with an array of awards at its annual ceremony
Why it matters: The annual Technology Impact Awards highlight some of the local sector’s top performers as well as the ones to watch
Made-in-B.C. virtual reality technology aimed at surgeons as well as innovative blood-testing tech took the spotlight at Thursday’s (June 27) Technology Impact Awards (TIAs) in downtown Vancouver.
The annual event presented by the B.C. Tech Association awarded honours to nine companies, while Traction on Demand CEO Greg Malpass took home the Person of the Year award.
Winners include Precision OS, a VR developer that’s helping surgeons prepare for the operating room, taking home the prize for Company of the Year — Startup Success; and LightIntegra Technology, which has developed novel technology for blood testing, taking home the prize for Spirit of BC Tech — True Grit (a new category).
“The power of the ideas, and the products and the companies that we’ve got here, if they can just get to the right markets there’s nothing that our companies can’t do,” BC Tech Association CEO Jill Tipping told Business in Vancouver.
The TIAs also granted six scholarships to high school and post-secondary students engaged in the tech sector.
“I was so surprised that out of the six representatives, five of them were female. This goes to show how much BC Tech is committed to closing that gender gap,” scholarship winner Daphne Liu said in a statement.
Tipping said her organization didn’t change any of its selection process for the scholarships, but instead “what we did was open our eyes.”
“I am a huge proponent of getting more women into tech. I’m not even neutral about it,” she told BIV.
“Vancouver’s huge competitive advantage is our diversity, so let’s see that. We don’t need to be bro-tech.”
Full list of winners:
· Precision OS, Company of the Year — Startup Success
· Freshworks Studio, Company of the Year — Growth Success
· AbCellera, Company of the Year — Scale Succcess
· Clio, Company of the Year — Anchor Success
· Galvanize, Excellence in Global Export
· LightIntegra Technology, Spirit of BC Tech — True Grit
· SAP Vancouver, Tech Culture of the Year
· Newmont Goldcorp, Excellence in Technology Adoption
· Novarc Technologies, Excellence in Technology Innovation
