Melons are big, heavy fruits. They are also fragile. Their growth is influenced by variable, hard-to-predict weather factors and farmers depend on retailers selling their product before it goes bad.

That’s why one Nova Scotia melon grower has turned to the Acadia Institute for Data Analytics (AIDA) at Wolfville’s Acadia University to help him optimize his yield of cantaloupes.

AIDA got started in January under Director Danny Silver, as part of the Acadia Entrepreneurship Centre’s Incubation and Innovation Services unit -- a group that works hard to promote entrepreneurship in rural

History has given Halifax profound ties to Boston. But Boston has a lot to teach Halifax about entrepreneurship, believes Steve Nicolle, CEO of Halifax health-care IT company STI Technologies.

Nicolle, a P.E.I. native, worked in the startup sector in Boston for 10 years before becoming STI CEO in January 2010.

 “I learned Americans don’t fear failure at all; it’s a big difference,” he said.

Engage, a new conference on innovation and collaboration, has issued the following press release:

Engage Conference To Be Held Nov. 17-18 in Halifax

New conference to demonstrate how research and development partnerships between universities and entrepreneurs will result in economic growth and improved university education

Halifax, Nova Scotia - A new Halifax event will show how partnerships between Atlantic Canadian universities and entrepreneurs can drive economic growth in the region and improve the learning experience for university students who study here.

The Engage 2014

Endurance Wind Power of Surrey, B.C., has bought some of the assets of wind turbine maker Seaforth Energy and opened a regional office and service centre in the Nova Scotian startup’s former base of Dartmouth.

The buyer, one of the world's leading manufacturers of wind turbines for local power generation, issued a statement late Thursday announcing the opening of the office. Former Seaforth CEO Mike Morris, who joined the company in late 2012, has become Endurance's General Manager for Eastern North America.

The company is now growing its local staff and is installing products in Nova

Dalhousie University and The Next 36 have struck a partnership that will help more Dal undergrads attend one of the most demanding startup programs in the country.

Dal President Richard Florizone and Jon French, Director of Marketing and Communications at The Next 36, announced the partnership at a reception at the president’s residence on Wednesday.  

Though Dal students have already gone through the program, the partnership means Dalhousie will now become one of a handful of educational institutions that have a formal relationship with The Next 36. The university will give financial

The Prince Edward Island BioAlliance has unveiled the new “farms to pharma” incubator that it’s launching with funding from the National Research Council’s Canadian Accelerator and Incubator Program.

Emergence is an incubator designed to help nurture the PEI cluster of biotech and food-tech companies, as well as others in the region. It will not feature intense cohorts like the modern tech accelerator but will offer long-term assistance to companies to help them develop over the long-haul.

“This is not a bootcamp model at all because it recognizes that company development t in this

Genome Canada on Wednesday announced two research projects totalling $7.6 million that will undertake genomic research with the goal of improving East Coast aquaculture.

The not-for-profit organization that champions genetic research in the country announced two projects in the region that will each receive $3.8 million. They are: the Salmon and Chips Project, which is a collaboration of Cooke Aquaculture Inc. of Blacks Harbour, N.B., its Kelly Cove Salmon unit and the University of Guelph; and the Biomarker Platform for Commercial Aquaculture Feed Development project, conducted by the

ABK Biomedical Inc., a Halifax based medical device company, has issued the following press release:

ABK Biomedical Attracts World Leaders to Clinical Advisory Board

HALIFAX, Canada; October 15, 2014 - ABK Biomedical Inc., a Halifax based medical device company, today announced the appointment of three leading experts in interventional radiology to its Clinical Advisory Board: Dr. Scott Goodwin, Dr. Jim Spies and Dr. Bob Lewandowski.

"We are thrilled to have these pioneers in uterine fibroid embolization and interventional oncology on our team of clinical advisors," said Dr. Bob

The Atlantic Canadian startup community is about to get its own reality TV show.

Startup Kitchen, the Fredericton group that produces video content on startups in the community, is upping its game with more of a documentary format. The production will appear as before on Bell Community One and now be called #startupeast.

The first production of #startupeast is a three-part series on the latest cohort of the Propel 2.0 accelerator, in which one group of more experienced entrepreneurs is meeting in Moncton while groups of more novice enterprises are meeting in Halifax and Fredericton. 

One week after taking office, New Brunswick Premier Brian Gallant has announced a $90,000 funding for Fredericton-based HotSpot Parking Inc., a recent graduate of the Launch36 accelerator.

Beyond the facts of the funding and its benefit for an interesting company, Gallant has sent a few strong signals about startups.

When the new Liberal premier and his cabinet were sworn in on Oct. 7, Gallant took a few cabinet portfolios for himself, including innovation. It’s noteworthy that innovation – which usually isn’t mentioned in cabinet titles – is given enough importance that the premier