Here’s the state of play in East Coast Tech in the past 24 hours: four established companies in Nova Scotia issued announcements about business growth; and 11 startups are preparing for their groundbreaking Demo Day in New Brunswick next week.

What does it mean?

It means there’s too much news for separate stories and our blog today will be a bit of a smorgasbord.

Tomorrow, I’m going to outline Entrevestor’s coverage plans for the Launch36 Demo Day at Dieppe on Tuesday, which has created a lot of buzz around the region. (Case in point: I met with three people in the startup world in

The following is the text of a press release we put out yesterday for CompCamp Halifax.

CompCamp, a technology camp for teenagers, is pleased to announce that several leading digital enterprises in Nova Scotia will fund scholarships to the camp this summer, allowing young women and disadvantaged youth to develop their passion for technology.

CompCamp offers four programs – each lasting one week – that will teach young people from all walks of life not only how to use technology to enrich their lives, but also how that technology works. They will emerge from the camp understanding the

The latest issue of Progress Magazine is out, and it features my column on the MedTech sector in Halifax.

The column examines some of the factors that have led to the creation of so many companies that make medical or dental devices. It also looks at what BioNova is doing to promote the sector.

Also, check out Carol's piece on the cultural economy of Charlottetown.

A Halifax businessman I respect recently told me there was no way the Nova Scotia government would ever extend equity tax credits (or a reasonable facsimile) to people living outside the province. It was a non-starter, he said, because the government doesn’t send cheques to non-residents.

I told him that Nova Scotia—indeed, all of the Atlantic provinces—should consider it. In fact, it’s happening in at least one U.S. state. Although I lost the argument with the businessman, I’m pigheaded enough to look deeper and discovered that Minnesota has a remarkable Angel Tax Credit program, and you

Invest New Brunswick’s decision to contribute $3.8 million in payroll rebates to Radian6 created minor rumblings in the tweetosphere yesterday as tweeters debated the wisdom of government aid to businesses.

First the facts:  Economic Development Minister Paul Robichaud announced Wednesday the government would provide up to $12,000 per job in rebates to help the social media monitoring company expand its workforce in Fredericton and Saint John. Radian6, which was purchased by San Francisco-based Salesforce.com for about $370 million last year, plans to expand by about 300 positions in New

Rose Behar and Michael Johnston are the kind of entrepreneurs you want to cheer for, because society in the region will likely benefit from their venture.

I had the pleasure last week of meeting Behar and Johnston when I was invited by Entrepreneur’s Forum to join a panel of mentors helping them to launch CompCamp, a Halifax-based computer camp for teenagers this summer.

CompCamp offers four programs – each lasting one week – that will teach youth not only how to use technology, but also how that technology works. They will gain an understanding of the potential of technology and how to

When an old friend saw Rory Francis breakfasting at a Charlottetown restaurant recently and noted that the venerable civil-servant-turned-industry-mentor hadn’t retired yet, Francis just smiled. “I’m having too much fun,” said the Executive Director of the PEI BioAlliance.

In May I spent a few days on P.E.I. researching a series of stories that will appear in Progress in September. The theme of the innovation series, and what I heard over and over again, was that innovation isn’t just what takes place in a lab. Those of us who spend each day in the start-up space would do well to remember

A lot has happened to Patrick Hankinson’s company Compilr since he took it to SeedCamp New York last summer, and he’s now hoping other Atlantic Canadian tech entrepreneurs can relive that experience.

As I wrote in one of the first blogs in Entrevestor last autumn, the active investor Permjot Valia took Hankinson and Compilr to New York last June to compete in SeedCamp New York.  There were 20 competitors from around the globe.

Compilr allows computer programmers to write codes from their browser, or rather to use the cloud for developing programs instead of relying on their own PC. The

I received an interesting blog Thursday from Peter Halpin, Executive Director of the Association of Atlantic Universities, extolling the impact the region’s post-secondary institutions have had on innovation and R&D in the region.

Yes, it’s been said before, but it gives me an opportunity to bring out some research that I’ve been conducting that I hope will one day flesh out this concept a bit more.

In particular, Halpin notes that three of the big innovation stories in the region came about because of the active participation of universities. Radian6 and Ocean Nutrition Canada, two of

Milan Vrekic, the CEO of TitanFile, is looking for IT startups to present their technology at the second annual DemoCamp Halifax at Dalhousie University on the evening of Sunday, September 23.

DemoCamp is an opportunity for the tech community to witness what’s being developed by entrepreneurs in Nova Scotia, and other parts of Atlantic Canada. It is not a pitching event. It is not a contest. It is a chance for the tech community – including investors – to get together and learn what the best technological minds in the region are creating, and listen to the wisdom of a few seasoned