Paraglide wins international Aging 2.0 Boston pitch competition!

MacKenzie Healthcare Technologies won the judges' votes and took home first prize at the Aging 2.0 Boston Revolutionize pitch competition & conference for our invention, Paraglide, the personal repositioning system for wheelchair users.

The company competed against four start-up tech companies from Boston, New York, San Francisco and Tokyo, all of whom have invented breakthrough products aimed at helping to improve the lives of the world's aging population.

There were audible gasps in the room when company founder and Paraglide inventor Matthew MacKenzie sat in the wheelchair and demonstrated how easily Paraglide pulls someone up in their wheelchair from a slouched position to an upright position, at the touch of a button, and the judges highlighted its simplicity in solving a real world problem.

Here’s to showcasing Nova Scotia innovation on the world stage!

Our deepest thanks to our long term care partner Northwood for being such an incredible and innovative partner, to Ironstone Product Development for their development support, to our talented and dedicated team at home in Nova Scotia, and to all of the government agencies and individuals who’ve supported us along the way.

Our sincere thanks as well to the Aging 2.0 Halifax pitch organizers and competition judges whose support at the Halifax event earned us the opportunity to pitch and showcase our innovation in Boston.

The $5,000 award prize will go towards developing a promotional video in the months ahead as we prepare to launch in 2020. Even more exciting, though, was the opportunity to showcase Paraglide as a trade show vendor and lunchtime presenter at the conference the following day. The positive feedback and interest we received from companies working in the aging care sector was simply priceless.