Halifax Start-Up Pilots Global Solution to COVID-19 Screening with Local Innovation Partners

Halifax-based start-up Rimot.io Inc. is testing a safer, more secure alternative to screen for COVID-19 with local innovation partners Halifax Partnership and Volta.

When COVID-19 hit, Rimot, who traditionally uses their remote monitoring technology to keep critical infrastructure working for business and government, saw an opportunity to use their platform to make workplaces safer by screening people for the virus using a touchless thermal camera and automated questionnaires. They swiftly developed a prototype and are now deploying their RimotHEALTH Workplace Virus Threat Screening turnkey cloud-based solution across North America and Europe.

To support the company in scaling this technology, Halifax Partnership, Halifax's economic development organization, and Volta, Canada's east coast innovation hub, are testing a new release of the RimotHEALTH technology within their workplaces. Both organizations will identify challenges and opportunities with the technology and will provide feedback to Rimot to support product improvement.

As one of Canada's largest innovation hubs, and as home to almost 50 tech-enabled start-ups, Volta constantly looks for opportunities to pilot and raise awareness of new technologies created by emerging and existing companies in Atlantic Canada. Rimot's testing will take place in Volta's main lobby, which will help with contract tracing for all Volta Network Members. This initiative is a key part of the innovation hub's broader efforts to pilot and adopt new technologies, while introducing it to key ecosystem partners.  

Halifax Partnership will also test the product in the lobby of their office at the Nova Centre and has included the screening protocol in the organization's COVID-19 Return to Office Safety & and Operational Plan.

This is the first pilot project of the Halifax Innovation Outpost's City as a Living Lab initiative - supported by Halifax Regional Municipality, Halifax Partnership and the Province of Nova Scotia — which aims to help start-ups and scale-ups beta test and evolve their products and services with public, private, post-secondary and community partners.   

Quotes:

"Halifax Partnership is pleased to launch the first pilot of the Halifax Innovation Outpost's City as a Living Lab initiative with our partner Volta and local start-up Rimot, which has created a product here in Halifax that is aiding in the response to the global COVID-19 health crisis. Our goal is to support Halifax-based start-ups and scale-ups in getting their products to market and growing their companies in Halifax."
— Wendy Luther, President & CEO, Halifax Partnership

"Rimot Technologies has taken the lead in creating a much-needed, innovative solution that will help organizations of all sizes navigate re-opening during this pandemic and establish best practice for allowing external visitors on site. At Volta, we are always seeking opportunities to not only pilot technology with companies on the rise, but to collaborate with ecosystem partners, start-ups and community members to help them grow, scale and develop. With this initiative, we are pleased to support this local company by testing their technology in our space."
— Martha Casey, CEO, Volta

"Our existing customers and partners triggered us to create a sustainable way to screen workers to keep workplaces safe through Covid-19 and beyond. We fast-tracked RimotHealth to provide contactless screening along with the real-time data and analytics for these business and government organizations to safely and cost-effectively manage in the new normal. These deployments with Halifax Partnership and Volta are another example of how we have benefited from being part of the Innovation District ecosystem."
— Andrew Boswell, CEO, Rimot

For more information, please contact:

Emily Neil
Communications Advisor
Halifax Partnership
eneil@halifaxpartnership.com
902.220.4902

Laurie Snell
Marketing Manager
Volta
laurie.snell@voltaeffect.com
902.220.2544

Andrew Boswell
CEO
Rimot
andrew.boswell@rimot.io
902.456.5381

Rimot.io Inc.
Rimot, headquartered in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, offers monitoring-as-a-service to keep critical infrastructure and teams working for business and government organizations. The company provides turnkey remote monitoring to maximize reliability of critical equipment in the field and minimize its downtime, maintenance costs, and risk. Rimot's real-time analytics provide organizations with digital operational data to address problems quickly or avoid them. Learn more at www.rimot.io.

Halifax Partnership/Halifax Innovation District
Halifax Partnership is Halifax's public-private economic development organization. The Partnership drives and accelerates economic growth by selling and marketing Halifax to the world, helping businesses reach their full potential and tracking Halifax's economic progress. Its network of influential and globally connected Investors and partners are committed to building a thriving, prosperous Halifax. Halifax Partnership is leading the advancement of the Halifax Innovation District - with support from the Province of Nova Scotia and Halifax Regional Municipality and in collaboration with public, private and post-secondary partners — to increase the number of viable start-ups and scale-ups in Halifax and to strengthen our city's innovation ecosystem. Learn more at www.halifaxpartnership.com and www.halifaxinnovationdistrict.com.

Volta
Volta (formerly Volta Labs) is one of Canada's largest innovation hubs, located in downtown Halifax, Nova Scotia. Volta is a space where members of the Atlantic Canadian innovation ecosystem can work, connect and learn from one another by accessing co-working space, participating in programs and attending events. Volta has been home to more than 50 start-ups through its residency program, which has created more than 300 jobs and raised a combined total of $60 million in equity financing. Learn more at www.voltaeffect.com.

October 6, 2020, Halifax, Nova Scotia