A health-care innovation that offers the elderly dignity and safety at home took the top prize at the Mel Woodward Cup last night.
OmaScan, led by co-founders Rohith McKim and Liam French, is developing a smartphone application that uses 3D scanning to help occupational therapists and families evaluate equipment, furniture and other environmental supports seniors may need to stay in their own homes as they age.
The idea was born when Mr. McKim heard about a year-long waiting list for home assessments in the province.
“As an engineer, I knew that we could do this so much better with today’s technology,” he said.
OmaScan (“Oma” means “grandmother” in Dutch and German) was created in October 2025. Mr. McKim has been working on the business this semester during an entrepreneurial work-term with the Memorial Centre for Entrepreneurship (MCE).
The venture is also a member of Genesis.
Beta testing is underway with five occupational therapists in Newfoundland and Labrador and New Brunswick with an additional 60 across Canada on the wait-list.
“There’s a lot more work to do, and this is just the beginning for us.”
Mr. McKim and his team, which also includes engineering students Liam Earle, Zaid Duraid, Evan Vokey and Jordyn O’Brien, will use the $25,000 prize to move some of those wait-listed directly into the pilot phase.
“This will give us more users, more feedback and more data,” said Mr. McKim.
The Mel Woodward Cup is a startup pitch competition for Memorial University students.
Hosted by the MCE, it was created through a donation to the Faculty of Business Administration by the family of the late Dr. Mel Woodward, founder of the Woodward Group of Companies.
Mr. McKim says he’s inspired by his parents, who are health-care workers, to make a difference and help people.
“This project is dedicated to all of our grandmothers and grandfathers who deserve safety, dignity and independence as they age,” he said. “There’s a lot more work to do, and this is just the beginning for us.”
Runner-up: Seam Fishing
The idea for the $15,000 runner-up’s business came from a tendency to break things.
Co-founder Isaac Batten has been fishing his entire life and confesses that he’s hard on his equipment.
When he needed a new landing net that was durable and didn’t harm the fish he was catching, he couldn’t find one on the market.
So he created one.
Along with co-founder Rowan Meany (B.Eng.’21), the ocean and naval architectural engineering student has spent the past 10 months designing a landing net with a light-weight aluminum structure, stainless steel bolts that resist corrosion, and rubber netting to avoid damaging the fish.
To date, Mr. Batten hasn’t been able to break it.
With two models of the net available, Seam Fishing has already sold more than 200 across Canada, the United States, Japan and Argentina. The nets are also in seven Canadian retailers.
They plan to debut the nets at industry trade shows in Toronto and Moncton within the next month and plan to expand manufacturing, as well as new accessories and products.
“The past 10 months have involved significant learning and growth,” said Mr. Batten. “It feels very rewarding to be recognized for that growth, but, more importantly, for the confidence the judges had in us to use the prize money to continue our success.”
The top two teams also receive a variety of in-kind prizes from Altitude Media, Gardiner Centre, Genesis, Gowling Law, HeyOrca, KPMG, Perfect Day and techNL.
Five student-led teams pitched their ventures during the competition. The other finalists are below.
- DCXIX Consulting and Technical Services Inc., which is launching Scenecast, a performance capture tool that allows real people to be present and interact in virtual 3D environments;
- EsseReale, which is creating a new class of compact, hands-free personal mobility device that eliminates the stigma, inconvenience and terrain limitations of traditional mobility aids; and
- RespAI, which delivers real-time, personalized exposure intelligence for firefighters through a wearable multi-sensor device and machine-learning platform that makes long-term carcinogen risk visible and actionable.
Fry Family Foundation awards
Two awards valued at $2,500 each were also presented.
TerraEos won the Fry Family Foundation Entrepreneurship Award for an Early-stage Idea.
Founded by engineering student Liam Yandon, TerraEos aims to develop a biodegradable solvent for cement processing that improves the efficiency and affordability of carbon capture.
“The ingenuity, ambition and problem-solving that’s coming out of Memorial University is incredible.”
The Fry Family Foundation Entrepreneurship Award for Women and Non-binary Leadership went to mechatronics student Chelsea O’Hara, co-founder of DCXIX.
Twenty-seven applications were received for the Mel Woodward Cup this year. Ten were selected for semi-final evaluation by a team of preliminary judges before five finalists were chosen to pitch at the live finals.
“Each year, the pitches get better,” said Jason Trask, MCE director. “The ingenuity, ambition and problem-solving that’s coming out of Memorial University is incredible.
“The unique experiences gained at the MCE are part of the cultural fabric that’s sewn into the Memorial experience,” he added. “The MCE is the spark. Without Memorial, and the MCE specifically, our province’s economy would not be as innovative as it is today.”
According to Mr. Trask, companies that have emerged from the centre have generated about $178 million in economic impact in the province and $335 million across Canada.
With about $60 million generated in government tax revenue, those companies represent an estimated 11-times return on public investment.
“The impact goes far beyond the numbers,” he said. “The MCE helps build a can-do culture in this province, and many of our graduates now mentor, invest in and support the next generation of entrepreneurs, multiplying our impact.”
Decade of Impact Awards
Some of those companies that got their start at the MCE were honoured with Decade of Impact Awards during the ceremony.
These awards were created as part of the 10th anniversary to recognize past Mel Woodward Cup participants who have created meaningful economic, social and industry impact around the world.
CoLab Software, co-founded by Adam Keating (B.Eng.’17) and Jeremy Andrews (B.Eng.’17), took home two awards: the Founders in Motion award, recognizing ventures that have moved decisively from idea to influence; and the Journey Award, recognizing resilience, growth, learning and community engagement.
CoLab won $10,000 at the first Mel Woodward Cup in 2017.
“It was a big moment for us,” said Mr. Keating. “Winning gave us the confidence and some initial capital to take a chance on building CoLab. Coming back now feels like a full-circle moment and a reminder of how impactful that early support was. It meant a lot to us at the time, and it still does today.”
Since that inaugural win, CoLab has grown to over 200 employees worldwide, raised USD$72 million in series C funding and works closely with some of the world’s largest manufacturing companies.
Dr. Nikitha Kendyala (PhD’18), co-founder of Nucliq Biologics, won the Trailblazer Award, recognizing a woman or gender-diverse founder shaping ventures, markets and future founders.
Nucliq Biologics won the $25,000 top prize in 2020, which provided validation and confidence, she says. The company’s co-founder is Purvikalyan Pallegar (PhD’20).
“Returning to the Mel Woodward Cup is incredibly special because Memorial University is where we first imagined what was possible for our careers,” said Dr. Kendyala. “After building a company rooted in science and impact, it reminds us of the responsibility we carry to translate research into real-world solutions that improve lives.”
Dr. Kendyala was recently named one of Atlantic Business Magazine’s 2026 Most Powerful Women in Business.
Late last year, Nucliq Biologics partnered with Medavie Blue Cross to provide the insurance company’s Gut Health Program, which will combine registered dietitian consultants with Nucliq’s Gutcheck or Gutcheck VIVO test kits.
The 10th annual Mel Woodward Cup was held on March 18 at the Emera Innovation Exchange, Signal Hill Campus.
Support for the MCE comes from the Government of Canada, through the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency; the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, through the Department of Jobs, Growth and Rural Development; and private donors.
