Meet the Round 6 BC Fast Awardees

The BC Fast Pilot program helps regional small-medium sized enterprises design, build, and operate a pilot plant or small demonstration of their technology in real-world conditions. This allows B.C. technology companies to demonstrate the impact of their product, measure the value of their solution, and encourage customer adoption, with the goal of scaling their solutions while strengthening key industries, solving local and global challenges, and driving prosperity for British Columbians.

This is the sixth round of funding through the BC Fast Pilot program, which was launched in 2019. Since the program’s inception, and including this year’s awardees, $11.4M has been invested into 87 B.C. pilot demonstrations.

This initiative is delivered in partnership between Innovate BC and NRC IRAP. 

Meet the latest round BC Fast awardees.

Orca Water Solutions

Orca Water Solutions is addressing water usage, monitoring and the need for water data in multi-family residential and commercial environments with a cloud-connected, non-intrusive water measurement and leak detection system. This solution will be piloted across residential and commercial properties in B.C, including Greater Vancouver and Vancouver Island, to demonstrate its potential for improving water efficiency, providing easy to access granular data, and a breakthrough alternative to traditional costly water metering.

“The BC Fast Pilot program, sponsored by NRC-IRAP and Innovate BC, has been instrumental in providing us the ability to secure large potential customers who very much recognize the potential of Orca technology. Whereas we might have been able to sponsor 1 commercial scale pilot, now we are running three, each with its own set of unique challenges and new customer insights. We have dramatically improved our commercialization readiness and can speak to these pilots as ideal case studies for multiple distinct customer segments that we have identified as ideal for Orca.” – Kerry Chin, Founder and CEO, Orca Water Solutions

Edison Motors

Edison Motors is tackling carbon emissions in roadway maintenance with a dual-blade hybrid-electric highway snow plow. The snow plow will be piloted under various use-case scenarios in Merritt, aiming to validate its effectiveness in creating sustainable solutions for infrastructure maintenance and roadway services.

“Our goal is to create a machine that’s as powerful as it is environmentally conscious, redefining what’s possible in the vocational truck market. This grant marks a pivotal moment in our journey to revolutionize the heavy vocational truck industry with cutting-edge diesel-electric technology, enabling us to accelerate development and bring our groundbreaking diesel-electric snow plow concept to life. We’re honoured to be at the forefront of innovation, setting a new standard for efficiency and sustainability in snow removal technology. This project is about more than just technology—it’s about paving the way for a cleaner, greener future in heavy vocational applications. This milestone wouldn’t be possible without the support of the grant and the belief in our vision to transform heavy-duty vehicles.” – Eric Little, Founder and CTO, Edison Motors

 Hydron Energy

Hydron Energy is combating carbon emissions in the hard-to-abate sectors, such as heavy transportation, with an environmentally friendly disruptive gas separation platform that removes carbon dioxide and rare gases from the atmosphere and produces renewable fuel for aviation and aerospace industries. The system will be piloted with a major aviation company in the United States* and a leading e-fuel production company in Canada to showcase its capability in advancing clean energy solutions and reducing emissions.

 “We would like to thank Innovate BC for all the support they have shown us. They have been strong partners during the demonstration of our INTRUPTor solution for RNG commercialization. We look forward to demonstrating our technology for carbon dioxide removal and renewable fuel production with our North American industrial partners in the near future”- Soheil Khiavi, CEO, Hydron Energy

*As part of the BC Fast Pilot program, pilot demonstrations that occur outside of B.C. must include a B.C.-based company, and demonstrate benefits to B.C.   

Insporos Technologies is addressing agricultural efficiency with an AI-enabled seed-sorting technology that identifies and removes non-viable seeds to reduce resource waste and disease. This innovation will be piloted in Delta-based greenhouses to confirm its ability to reduce waste, improve crop outcomes, and promote sustainability in the agriculture sector.

“Insporos is focused on providing greater predictability and assurance to greenhouse growers by finding diseased and defective seeds before planting, contributing to healthier, more productive crops with reduced resource costs.  The BC Fast Pilot Program has been integral in facilitating important pilots, where we can work directly with industry players to demonstrate the benefits and utility of this new technology while integrating valuable feedback to ensure seamless adoption into existing greenhouse operations.” – Mallory Flynn, CEO and Founder, Insporos Technologies

joni

joni is enhancing menstrual care accessibility with sustainable products that will be dispensed using an IOT-enabled technology in public washrooms across Victoria, Sidney, and Richmond. The pilot will assess the efficacy of increasing access to eco-friendly products in public spaces and promoting sustainability in menstrual care.

"The BC Fast Pilot project has been instrumental in validating our model V dispenser with organizations like a boutique hotel, an international airport, and IKEA warehouse sites in B.C. This initiative has refined our offering, strengthened partnerships across industries, and informed our go-to-market strategy. We’re deeply grateful for the outstanding support from Innovate BC and NRC IRAP, which made this journey seamless and rewarding. Their guidance has been pivotal in advancing our innovation, execution, and customer success efforts.” – Jayesh Vekariya, Co-CEO and Co-Founder, joni 

Algafilm Technologies

Algafilm Technologies is tackling wastewater management through the development of a new system that uses algae to remove and recover nutrients from treated water and byproducts of wastewater management, all with a net-zero carbon footprint. The system will be piloted at a research centre in Delta with the goal of proving the systems efficacy for improving sustainable water treatment and recycling valuable resources.

“This project represents Algafilm’s first field demonstration in the wastewater sector, and is enabling us to validate the Algae Forest’s effectiveness at removing harmful nutrients from wastewater and converting it to valuable algal biomass, in a real world demonstration. Innovate BC and NRC-IRAP’s support has enabled us to validate our technology in a real-world wastewater environment at Metro Vancouver’s Annacis Research and Event Center much faster than it would otherwise be possible, enabling us attract project and financial partners to accelerating our growth in the wastewater market. This program enabled us to stretch our budget to include a field pilot, which then enabled us to achieve milestones that led to securing our seed financing.” – Ahren Britton, Co-Founder and CEO

BarrelWise Technologies 

BarrelWise Technologies is addressing sustainability in wine production with an advanced metering and monitoring system that measures resource consumption by specific equipment and processes. This system will be piloted at a Kelowna winery to demonstrate its potential for identifying operational changes that reduce emissions and input costs while maximizing wine quality and value.

"BarrelWise is developing a solution for the B.C. wine industry that integrates data from all over the winegrowing process to help companies make informed, data-driven decisions about their costs, inputs, and emissions. We want to enable our B.C. winery partners to make wines that are competitive on the world stage, vintage after vintage." – David Sommer, CEO, BarrelWise Technologies

FireSwarm Solutions 

FireSwarm Solutions is tackling wildfire response with advanced autonomous ultra heavy-lift drone swarm technology that provides real-time suppression capabilities. This solution will be demonstrated in a scaled pilot in the Central Okanagan to validate its effectiveness in improving wildfire suppression and response times, ultimately supporting better forest management and enhanced community safety.

“We’re honoured to be recognized by Innovate BC and NRC IRAP as part of the BC Fast Pilot initiative. This funding accelerates our mission to revolutionize wildfire response with pioneering autonomous ultra-heavy-lift drone swarm technology for active wildfire suppression, protecting people, ecosystems, and critical infrastructure. Innovate BC’s commitment to advancing cleantech innovation and supporting solutions to urgent global challenges aligns perfectly with our mission of creating safer, more resilient communities.” – David Thanh, Founder and COO, FireSwarm Solutions

pH7 Technologies  

pH7 Technologies is transforming sustainable resource recovery with a proprietary closed-loop solvometallurgical process (a solvent-based method that minimizes water and energy use) for extracting critical metals like copper from low-grade ores, waste-rock, and tailings. The pilot will be conducted in partnership with a B.C.-based mining company to validate the effectiveness of the process in reducing environmental impact while increasing the efficiency of metal recovery.

"The BC Fast Pilot Program has provided vital resources for advancing our copper extraction technology, supporting both crucial R&D phases and pilot development. This program recognizes the importance of innovative solutions in sustainable mining and has enabled us to demonstrate how our copper extraction process can achieve high yields while maintaining environmental responsibility." Mohammad Doostmohammadi, CEO and Founder, pH7 Technologies

Promag Enviro Systems

Promag Enviro Systems is addressing inefficiencies in water treatment management in industrial settings with a secure cellular ecosystem for telemetry, control, and management. This solution will be piloted in Tsawwassen to demonstrate its potential for improving real-time monitoring and operational efficiency in water treatment systems, showcasing its ability to support sustainable resource management.

"Our industry requires secure remote monitoring and control of their water systems. We are addressing this by creating a cellular solution that allows clients to confidently control and manage water systems remotely, removing the need to drive to site locations. The BC Fast Pilot Program has been a great support by providing us the ability to both expedite and expand our piloting process—the program team has been a pleasure to work with and we are extremely grateful for their support." David Burke, Director, Finance & Business Development, Promag Enviro Systems

UVX Inc.

UVX Inc. has developed a ceiling device that inactivates pathogens and reduces excessive HVAC usage, thereby reducing a facility's infection risk, cost and carbon emissions. This solution will be piloted in a Vancouver healthcare facility to evaluate its efficacy and energy efficiency. 

“Post-COVID, many facilities increased HVAC capacity to introduce more air indoors and therefore dilute contaminated air. However, not only are HVAC systems expensive, loud, and contribute significantly to a building's carbon footprint, they're purpose-built to ventilate and heat or cool but not sanitize. We’re grateful to Innovate BC for the opportunity to demonstrate how UVX’s technology is cheaper, silent, sustainable, and purpose-built for sanitization. It has been a pleasure working with the team.” - Kunal Sethi, CEO, UVX Inc.

Voxelis Canada

Voxelis Canada is enhancing aerial wildfire suppression with an advanced airborne sensor and edge computing system designed to assist crews with real-time data tactical decision-making and improvement of predictive and fire behaviour models. This solution will be piloted in Langley to test and validate the system in operational wildfire suppression tasks, demonstrating its potential to improve situational awareness and response effectiveness.

"Wildfires are dynamic and evolving threats that demand innovative approaches to improve our ability to combat them. By equipping wildfire suppression helicopters with advanced AI technology, Voxelis is revolutionizing how we predict, detect, and combat wildfires. Support from the BC FAST Pilot Program is a pivotal step, enabling us to develop and deploy early-stage transformative tools that enhance wildfire response, safeguard communities, and drive innovation in wildfire management." – Colin O’Neill, CEO and CO-Founder, Voxelis Canada

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