frequently asked questions

ELIGIBILITY RELATED QUESTIONS

  • Individuals, academic institutions, organizations and corporations of 100 or fewer employees are welcome to participate without restriction as to nationality. Individuals must be over the age of majority in BC. The Campbell River Area Angel Group (CRAAG) and other partners are excited to see businesses grow from these challenges and this may be in the form of additional funding and continued mentorship. This follow-on investment funding is likely to require suitable incorporation.

    If your idea is still in the early stages, we may direct you to other resources and programs and encourage you to re-apply in a future generation of NexStream.

  • Universities and colleges are where some of the most creative problem solving and lateral thinking occurs. Consider other businesses and/or students with whom you might partner if you would like to submit. A successful NexStream outcome will be one where as many individuals have benefited from learning throughout the process. That being said, if you do not have a prototype, it is likely that we will guide you to additional resources outside of NexStream and encourage you to re-apply in a future generation of the challenges. Please let us know in your Expression or Interest if there are areas in which you need help.

  • While it is possible, we recommend you focus your participation in the program with one submission in one category. If we feel your submission is better suited for a different category, we will discuss moving your submission to that category.

  • Yes!

  • Contestants from any location are welcome to enter the contests. Successful respondents will be encouraged through the qualitative portion of the scoring to establish a corporate headquarters or at minimum a sales and/or development presence in Campbell River if not already established.

  • Yes, you can apply! There are also several other initiatives in Campbell River that may be of interest to you, including the BC PNP Entrepreneur Immigration Pilot Program.

SUPPORT & MENTORSHIP

  • We intend to provide ample opportunity for mentorship throughout the contest process. This will include access to one-on-one coaching, along with forums for group Q&A sessions. We will also encourage participants to enrol in skill-development programs that will be hosted in Campbell River in collaboration with business and product development experts. We will maintain this FAQ throughout the process.

  • NexStream has access to a variety of individuals and resources that can help you develop a business and marketing plan. While we encourage all to submit an expression of interest, if you’re very early stage, we may recommend that you refine your ideas with other resources and come back another year. We will announce several skill-building opportunities throughout the competition and have historically hosted sessions on prototype development, business planning, intellectual property, sales and marketing, supply chain management etc…

  • Yes! CRAAG members are there to help throughout the contest process and have extensive personal networks from/through which we can pull domain experts.

CHALLENGE ADMIN & LOGISTICS

  • Intellectual property developed for contest entry and during participation in the contests by specific entrants is intended to be owned entirely by those respective entrants. Contestants are responsible for ensuring that they own, or have appropriate license rights to, any patents, patent applications, trademarks, copyrights, and other intellectual property utilized by their entry during the contest.

  • The award funding is provided by individual members of CRAAG, the Campbell River Area Angel Group. Additional prize funding for contests is also sourced from specific corporate and government donors and may be specific to particular contests.

  • Judges are individual members of CRAAG as well as any Subject Matter Experts invited by CRAAG for specific contests, at the discretion of CRAAG.

  • Yes. The judging is based on scoring as presented such that partial scores can be generated, and we recognize that the criteria might turn out to be impossible or unrealistic to fully meet.

  • Demonstrations of prototypes of proposed solutions will be conducted at an appropriate location in the Campbell River area. Specifics as to expectations of the prototypes are covered in the specific contest guidelines. Exact times and locations will be announced at a later date.

  •  In general, no - submitted content will not be shared. The entries are confidential and viewed only by contest management and judges, for IP preservation reasons. As judges, we have the ability to suggest that teams combine if we see complementarity. We also have the ability to suggest mentors or other resources that may be beneficial to a participant. However, sharing of specific contest material is then up to individuals and teams.

TIMELINE & FUNDING RELATED

  • Expressions of Interest are due by February 28, 2022 at 11:59pm PT.

  • As expressions of interest are submitted, we will be reviewing them and providing feedback. We will do this as soon as we can. If you do not receive a response from us within a week, let us know by using the contact us form.

    After January 26th, we will conduct a more detailed and formal review of submissions. We will also provide additional information about the Ideation and Submission phase of the challenge.

  • Challenge Submissions are due by March 25th, 2022. We encourage you to submit earlier so that we can provide you with feedback sooner.

  • Our expectation is that your work will have a direct and meaningful impact on Campbell River and its surrounding area. We expect the funds to be used in ways that will further your ability to build a business around your challenge solution and that it will meaningfully impact the economy in the Campbell River area.

    Contest winners must be prepared to incorporate a recipient entity corporation or partnership with significant representation by the team members, in order to receive the award.

  • Yes!

  • We appreciate that developing a proof-of-concept or prototype may be expensive. While we expect participants to invest a significant amount of time and their own resources into each application, on a case-by-case basis we may consider assisting teams that require specific and additional financial support.