Megan Folden

A unique offering by Saskatchewan entrepreneur Chad Martinson and his company 10-8 Continuing Medical Education aims to help paramedics train virtually to better prepare them for the realities of the job. The product, ParamediSIM, is a piece of software that presents the user with randomised virtual patient scenarios meant to mimic real-world cases. But the path from concept to creation is a long and winding road. In Martinson’s case, a Creative Saskatchewan Market Travel Grant, allowed him to attend the 2022 World EMS Expo in Orlando, Florida.

The trip, alongside his partner Andrea Demaere, allowed Martinson facetime with anyone and everyone who has influence in his target market: those training current and future paramedics. The software’s main selling point is that it is more accessible (and less costly) than more typical training tools like tech-infused mannequins, allowing educators and students to practice their skills from home.

As part of the five-day event, Martinson was able to identify the need for the software to integrate an additional type of monitor used by many industry professionals. He says this led to additional commercial interest that wouldn’t have been possible had he not been able to go to the expo.

“Approximately half of our booth’s attendees use the Zoll X Series monitor at their place of employment and expressed a need to train using the same patient monitor. Since we were already at the conference, I was able to speak face to face with the representatives from Zoll….Zoll was very interested in having their patient monitor featured as an option in ParamediSIM and agreed to mail me a demo model…. If we had not attended this expo, I would never have learned of the need for an additional patient monitor within ParamediSIM and I would certainly never have had the opportunity to speak directly with the appropriate Zoll representatives regarding my needs.”

While at the conference, Martinson was able to reach a deal to provide his software to an American fire department that will use the tool to train more than 100 firefighter-paramedics. There are also plans in the works to have the Saskatchewan Polytechnic paramedic program trial the software.

Martinson’s trip to the World EMS Expo also came with some hardware. ParamediSIM earned an EMS World Innovation award, with one judge likening it’s aesthetic to that of an MTV-esque music video. The project is now in early access, with interested customers able to purchase the software—which runs on both Windows and Mac— for $70 Canadian.

The conversations had at the Expo seem to be paying off, with Martinson hopeful that he can attend in 2023 to solidify and expand on hard-earned relationships.

“We interacted with paramedics, administrators, and EMS educators from around the world and developed contacts at several colleges and universities in the United States and South America that provide paramedic education. The individuals representing these institutions were very interested in ParamediSIM and we are continuing to communicate with them with the intent of integrating our software into their paramedic student curriculum.”

While creativity and paramedic education may not seem synonymous, it’s clear that ParamediSim is bridging that gap, allowing technological innovation, artistry, medical education, and lifesaving care to be combined.

By John Loeppky

You can purchase the tool, access a free trial, or choose to follow the company’s socials on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Michael Long and his company Foolish Mortals are no strangers to game development, but when it came time to showcase his work to a broader audience—in his case, travelling to a conference called PAX West in Seattle—he was successful in securing a Creative Saskatchewan Market Travel Grant to get there. Long says that, despite the fact that the video game industry is (not surprisingly) very digital-focused, speaking to industry players in person is crucial for businesses like his to grow.

“Getting to be able to talk to people in person and seeing their face makes a much stronger connection that if … in future want to talk to a publisher, it really helps if you say ‘Oh, hey, we met at PAX a year ago, do you want to hear about our new game?’ That’s a much easier ‘in’ than just doing a cold call email and then they’ll just delete it without even looking at it.”

PAX West is one of the largest video game conferences in the world and Long was able to secure a coveted spot as part of the PAX Rising showcase. This opportunity meant that he didn’t have to pay for a booth, which can run into the thousands of dollars. Still, he says that funding like the Market Travel and Digital Game Development grants prevented him from having to seek opportunities elsewhere.

“I was very, very, seriously considering moving to Quebec, where they actually pay for 35% of your Quebec studio salaries, which is just huge. So it’s very cool that Saskatchewan is putting more and more attention towards funding video games, because it is big business, but it’s a very hard business to break into.”

As for the game that Long showcased south of the border, it’s called Kaiju Wars, and is a 2D turn-based game where you’re defending the world against giant Godzilla-like monsters. While a mythical beast didn’t attack the convention centre during the event, Long says he learned a lot about how to market his work in-person versus online (such as using discount codes and consumer behaviour to boost sales).

“Always bring like 5000 business cards, that’s for sure. We only brought one laptop, since we actually had to travel there. It’s much better if you can bring multiple computers so you can have multiple people trying out your game. It’s good to always have people at your booth because people attract people.”

Since 2017, Foolish Mortals has expanded their Saskatoon operations from just a solo venture with a few contractors to three full-time and three-part time staff. The team is in the midst of their newest project, a real-time war simulation game, and Long says that his advice to anyone looking to emulate his success is to build community with other creators. “I run the Saskatoon Game Design Group. It’s a monthly meetup, where we meet in person or virtually each month and people in Saskatchewan come to show off games that they’re making. So, if you’re interested in starting game development, you should definitely come to these events where we’ll show games made in Saskatchewan and talk to you and give you advice on how you could get started trying to do this as a career.”

By John Loeppky

Interested in Godzilla-like monsters, war simulation games, or any of the other products produced by Michael Long and his team? You can check out their website or their Steam page.

Cannes, France is the home of a festival synonymous with the film industry, is a hub for advertisers, and, thanks to the funding from Creative Saskatchewan’s Market Travel Grant, also became part of the 2022 travel itinerary for Regina’s Landslide Entertainment. The company, which produces original content for film and television, is led by Lioz Bouganin. They chose Cannes because it is also the home base for MIPCOM and MIPCOM JR, two foundational industry gathering places.

“The market travel grant, it’s very significant in helping small companies to be able to go and have presence in those markets because otherwise, maybe we could have gone but not as frequently or maybe we have to send less people.”

Beyond the fixed costs of necessities like an industry table, grants and subsidies help companies like Landslide weather the punch to the pocketbook that is things like hotels, food, and airfare. With multiple projects in their pipeline at any one time, Bouganin and his team took the opportunity, not just to sell buyers on their work, but also to network with people from both home and abroad as part of the Canadian pavilion.

“It’s networking with Canadian people who came because we’re in the pavilion with them every day. The founders are there, the other companies are there, distribution people are there, and getting a lot of important facetime. You’re building on those connections.”

Bouganin says that, because Saskatchewan is geographically separate from larger centres like Toronto, conferences like MIPCOM and MIPCOM JR. (which is focused on content for kids) are vital. He also says it’s important to keep in mind that, even with the best support at home, national and international connections are vital to bring more investment back to Saskatchewan and to get these projects made.

“We bring significant investment [in and it] comes from outside the province, without that you can really not finance any productions. Even with the best grant program in the world like we have here, most of the money is always going to come [from] out of the province so having presence in markets…Everybody you have to meet to get your project moving forward is in Toronto, in Canada, but internationally as well.”

In total, Landslide showcased eight projects, ranging from animated to unscripted series, to participants of the event. They made connections with multiple distributors and got to embed themselves in what Bouganin calls the ecosystem of creative development. From a learning perspective, he says that its key companies who are looking to travel to MIPCOM to start with smaller events and work their way up. His message: network beforehand and be prepared for some serious overwhelm.

“When you start going, you don’t really know anybody, right? So it’s hard to schedule meetings and you come into a place, and it is a huge venue, such a huge building with four or five floors, you have over 10,000 people, it can get overwhelming, especially if you’re not used to it.”

As for networking, he says you should talk to other production companies, including him, as well as industry organisations like Creative Saskatchewan and the Saskatchewan Media Production Industry Association, which he chaired for a number of years.

“We’re all in the same area in the industry. Everybody knows everybody.”

By John Loeppky

To view Landslide Entertainment’s catalogue, works in progress, and industry success, you can touch base with them on their website.