MEET THE INNOVATORS:
THE 5-10-15 MAIN STREET
INNOVATION CHALLENGE RECIPIENTS
BIAPromoter is a tool that serves the mandate of the Business Improvement Association (BIA). By motivating people to shop local with great offers, customers return to main street businesses – faster.
BIAPromoter drives customers to businesses using a collective marketing communication strategy. Customers sign up at participating shops and get instant special offers and deals from businesses in their local area.
Drinks With is a small business podcast, with a twist. The interview-style podcast showcases and celebrates the small businesses that make up our communities.
Guests are invited to bring a drink of their choice for the podcast. Whether it be a fresh locally-roasted coffee, one of their favorite craft beers from the area, or a glass of locally-distilled whiskey.
Over the duration of the bevvie, hosts and guests will chat about all the ups, downs, and in-betweens of running a small business.
Locorum is an eCommerce rewards platform intended to connect small business owners and customers in hyper-local markets across Canada. The platform is available to members and exclusively open to Canadian-owned small businesses. It’s free to become a member of Locorum and members earn rewards on every purchase, for referring their friends and working with local professionals.
Locorum’s mission is to provide businesses with the tools they need to be able to compete in the ever-changing world of eCommerce by bringing small local businesses together to create economies of scale typically exclusive to large multi-nationals.
Members can take advantage of a single platform to search products from verified local businesses and earn rewards while engaging with their community. Users have access to businesses Canada-wide but can narrow their search as hyper-local as their own city or town.
Seedz is a digital marketing application available on the App Store and Google Play. Seedz are geographically placed offers and promotions that local businesses plant in strategic locations to entice people to find, collect and redeem the offers at their business.
The gamified platform awards users for collecting Seedz and gives additional Seedz if redeemed at the business location. There are monthly prizes awarded to the top “cultivators”.
In conjunction with the gamified campaigns, Seedz provides a single touchpoint for all subscribed business’ social media channels, with additional information like direct phone calling and driving directions embedded in the business listing.
MAIN STREET IS READY TO TRANSFORM.
INNOVATORS CAN MAKE IT HAPPEN.
Main street businesses are essential to vibrant communities, but across Southwestern Ontario, they continue to feel the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. That’s where innovators step in. With collaboration leading the way to recovery, TechAlliance presents The 5-10-15 Main Street Innovation Challenge, created to build bridges between businesses and creative solutions that spark transformational change along main streets in Southwestern Ontario. Open to innovators in Elgin, Huron, Lambton, Middlesex and Oxford counties, four solutions will each receive $15,000 to stimulate growth for their initiatives. The 5-10-15 Main Street Innovation Challenge is seeking immediate results for main street businesses. To that end, applications will be open for five days, starting February 5, 2021 followed by a rapid evaluation period of just five days by an adjudication panel comprised of economic development partners from Elgin, Huron, Lambton, Middlesex and Oxford counties. Recipients will be announced on February 16, 2021. Innovative and technology-enabled solutions that transform main street at the centre of their solution bring forth new, inclusive, and disruptive approaches for economic recovery and community prosperity. Applicants are encouraged to consider challenges main street businesses have faced during the health crisis as they create their solutions. We also encourage applications from grass-roots initiatives, individuals or teams of people who are engaged in startup or scaling enterprises and non-profit organizations. |     |
Main street businesses are essential to vibrant communities, but across Southwestern Ontario, they continue to feel the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
That’s where innovators step in.
 |  |
With collaboration leading the way to recovery, TechAlliance presents The 5-10-15 Main Street Innovation Challenge, created to build bridges between businesses and creative solutions that spark transformational change along main streets in Southwestern Ontario.
Open to innovators in Elgin, Huron, Lambton, Middlesex and Oxford counties, four solutions will each receive $15,000 to stimulate growth for their initiatives.
The 5-10-15 Main Street Innovation Challenge is seeking immediate results for main street businesses. To that end, applications will be open for five days, starting February 5, 2021 followed by a rapid evaluation period of just five days by an adjudication panel comprised of economic development partners from Elgin, Huron, Lambton, Middlesex and Oxford counties. Recipients will be announced on February 16, 2021.
 |  |
Innovative and technology-enabled solutions that transform main street at the centre of their solution bring forth new, inclusive, and disruptive approaches for economic recovery and community prosperity.
Applicants are encouraged to consider challenges main street businesses have faced during the health crisis as they create their solutions. We also encourage applications from grass-roots initiatives, individuals or teams of people who are engaged in startup or scaling enterprises and non-profit organizations.
Questions?
We invite interested parties to submit their online applications starting Friday February 5, 2021. The last day for submission is 4 pm EST on Wednesday, February 10, 2021.
Review the criteria, determine if your idea is a fit, and submit your application online. All submissions will be in English. Paper entries will not be accepted.
The 5-10-15 Main Street Innovation Challenge, is open to everyone who has an innovative solution for main street issues and is ready to implement and report on their success by March 15, 2021. We encourage applications from individuals or teams of people who are engaged in startup ventures, or scaling businesses, grassroots initiatives and non-profit organizations, across Elgin, Huron, Lambton, Middlesex, and Oxford counties.
Yes. A single applicant can apply to the challenge to develop different projects. However, only one project will be selected. Multiple applications may not be submitted for the same project.
Recipients will be subject to TechAlliance’s Terms & Conditions. Additionally, the Terms & Conditions on the use of the funding will be set in a Memorandum of Understanding between the successful Challenge candidates and TechAlliance. Challenge winners will implement and report on the success of their solutions by March 15, 2021.
Four winners will be announced, and each will receive $15,000 CAD. The successful applicants will implement their solution throughout from February 15 – March 15, 2021 with support from TechAlliance. The successful applicants will agree upon suitable dates for advisory services and coaching following the announcement.
Absolutely not! The 5-10-15 Main Street Innovation Challenge is shaped to accelerate the project through the innovation continuum of inspiration, ideation and implementation or the business stages of idea, discovery, validation, efficiency, scale, to a final solution that is viable, scalable and impactful for main streets in Southwestern Ontario.
All concepts contributed to the 5-10-15 Main Street Innovation Challenge, belong to the applicant who created and submitted them. All work, data, material, documents, software, idea, know-how, expression, etc., in whole or in part, created by the winning applicant pursuant to a business plan where applicable, are the applicant’s sole property.
The successful applicants of the challenge will be granted the financial investment of $15,000 CAD. Additionally, the successful applicant will work directly with growth coaches at TechAlliance tailored to the specific needs associated with the innovation. This could include business model canvassing, access to product viability labs, marketing and communications guidance, connection to other collaborators, etc. Throughout that development period, the successful applicant will actively engage in storytelling (media, events, social media) by the project partners, to draw focus to innovative and technology-enabled solutions through regional collaboration.
Given the large community response, and in fairness to all applicants, we cannot provide additional guidance beyond published information. The application questions available here, provide further details and we encourage you to review the Questions section on this page.
“The Government of Canada is pleased to support the Digital Main Street initiative and see the launch of Community Collaboration Projects. We are proud to work with Digital Main Street partners like TechAlliance of Southwestern Ontario to help main street businesses adapt in the face of COVID-19 and move towards economic recovery.”
—The Honourable Mélanie Joly
Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages and Minister responsible for FedDev Ontario
“Providing businesses with the tools they need to adapt, recover and grow is a key part of our economic recovery plan throughout reopening and into the future. This Digital Main Street Community Collaboration Project through TechAlliance is just one example of how Ontario’s recovery will be driven by innovation.”
—The Honourable Vic Fedeli
Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade
“I’m proud to have helped launch this joint federal-provincial program as part of our COVID-19 small business recovery strategy. Helping Main Street get back on its feet starts with supporting local small businesses in growing and adapting to today’s world. The TechAlliance 5-10-15 Main Street Innovation Challenge will be the innovation catalyst to support small businesses while they meet the challenges of today and opportunities of tomorrow. When small businesses succeed, Ontario succeeds.”
—The Honourable Prabmeet Sarkaria
Associate Minister of Small Business and Red Tape Reduction
“The 5-10-15 Main Street Innovation Challenge will help our region through home-grown innovation. Challenging local innovators to help transform our Main Street businesses will be key to our successful recovery.”
—Mike Bradley
Mayor, City of Sarnia
“Finding creative technology-enabled solutions that transform main street is vastly important to our businesses. Through this Community Collaboration Project, innovation will lead the way to recovery.”
— Joe Preston
Mayor, City of St. Thomas
“Bolstering main street businesses is vital to Southwestern Ontario’s economic recovery. TechAlliance’s 5-10-15 Main Street Innovation Challenge is a solid example of how innovation can help transform businesses and prepare for opportunities ahead.”
—Ed Holder
Mayor, City of London
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