The Annual VIATEC Technology Awards recognize excellence in Victoria’s biggest industry. Out of 15 awards, we are pleased to see three awards in the hands of Engineering Entrepreneurship@UVic companies:
Innovative Excellence – Software or service: Echosec Systems
Founding trio of Engineering Entrepreneurship@UVic, Thomas Darcie, Stephen Neville, and Owen Matthews, along with Wesley Clover International and The Alacrity Foundation, were awarded the Craigdarroch Award for Excellence in Research Partnerships at the 2016 Craigdarroch Research Awards. The award is attributed to the unique and extremely applicable learning experience offered by the program.
For the third year in a row, the Engineering Entrepreneurship@UVic program was represented at the VIATeC Technology Award. This year’s awards recognized startup company Tutela Technologies as well as Owen Matthews from Wesley Clover.
Tutela Technologies: Team of the Year
Owen Matthews: The Colin Lennox Award for Technology Champion
Congratulations to both winners! Click here for more information on these achievements.
Tutela’s own Hunter MacDonald has joined BC Business’ 30 under 30 list. This list recognizes 30 young business leaders “who excel in their respective industries, give back to their community and planet and who will lead business in this province for years to come.” Although this achievement speaks for itself, here’s a little bit from BC Business describing how this award fell into Hunter’s hands:
“It all happened fast for Hunter MacDonald. He was finishing his undergrad in mechanical engineering at McGill University when he started volunteering with Ottawa-based venture capitalists Wesley Clover International Corp. After about six months he got a call from the firm one Friday and was told that if he could be in Victoria by Monday, he could start a company with its backing, under the tutelage of Ted Darcie in the Engineering Entrepreneurship@UVic program. He packed his bags and upon arrival launched a project aimed at helping wireless service providers monitor their networks’ performance. Two-and-a-half years later, Tutela Technologies has 10 employees and more than $1 million in funding.”
The VIATEC Technology Awards recognize greatness in the field of technology in Victoria, the fastest growing technology region in BC. This year, Tutela Technologies had the honour of attending and was awarded “Emerging Technology Company of the Year”. This is awarded to the most promising technology company that has been established for less than three years.
Congratulations to the Tutela team for this achievement! This video gives a good sense of the level of competition.
At the 2012 VIATEC Awards, the YUPIQ (now Referral SaaSquatch) development team won Team of the Year. On top of that, YUPIQ were finalists for Emerging Technology Company of the Year, joined by Tutela Technologies. The Team of the Year award recognizes excellence in the field of technology and all positions are highly competitive as displayed in this list of finalists.
An article in UVic’s The Ring describes how tech startup YUPIQ (now Referral SaaSquatch) helped author Jann Arden’s book gain popularity. YUPIQ marketing director, Fraser, credits their success to the UVic Engineering Entrepreneurship Masters Program.
Alacrity Foundation Director and Wesley Clover SVP Owen Mathews and UVic VP Research Howard Brunt formalize broad agreement for UVic’s Entrepreneurial Engineering Master’s Program, while interim program Director Ted Darcie looks on contentedly.
