Holt: Linking Startups & Corporates

There are many theories about how best to encourage entrepreneurs. Susan Holt, president and CEO of the New Brunswick Business Council, links entrepreneurs with seasoned business people and encourages the veterans to become early adopters of the startups’ new products and services.

Holt is a familiar face at startup events in New Brunswick. It might seem mere common sense to link business

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Dodoname Aids Consumer Privacy

Michael J. Gaffney wants to protect the privacy of consumers around the world when they register on a website, and he wants to do it — at least in part — from Nova Scotia.

An Ottawa resident, Gaffney is a serial entrepreneur who has been involved in six startups, for which he’s raised about $15 million. His latest venture is Dodoname, a company that helps consumers preserve their privacy and helps e-retailers to target consumers who might be interested in their wares.

Dodoname is dual-headquartered in Ottawa and New Glasgow, the hometown of Gaffney’s wife. The couple has a house in

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Digital Bridge Scholarship Launched

Junior Achievement Nova Scotia and Torusoft have put out the following press release:

 HALIFAX, NS (Oct. 8, 2014) – A new educational initiative is launching across the province this month, as the result of a joint partnership between Junior Achievement Nova Scotia and Torusoft. The Nova Scotia Digital Bridge Scholarship will enable secondary school students to learn computer programming and related skills, through free access to online learning materials and dedicated mentorship.

The Digital Bridge Scholarship is based on the premise that learning should be free of charge, sustained

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Agile Sensor Targets Drone Upgrades

Having grown out of a research grant from a major defense contractor, Agile Sensor Technologies Inc. is now marketing products that improve the operation of unmanned vehicles that travel in the sky, the sea and on land.

Founded on intellectual property developed at Memorial University, the St. John’s company is now selling its own proprietary quadcopter  (a little unmanned helicopter with four rotors) that is stable even in high winds. It is also selling a novel mechanism that grants more movement to cameras mounted on drones and submersible vehicles.

Headed by President and CEO Brian

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Crosbie Wins EY Entrepreneur Award

EY, the global accountancy and business consultancy firm, issued the following press release, announcing the winners of the 2014 Entrepreneur of the Year award:

Robert Crosbie of Crosbie Group Limited named EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Atlantic 2014

EY celebrates gravity-defying entrepreneurs at annual awards gala

HALIFAX, Oct. 4, 2014 - Robert Crosbie, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Crosbie Group Limited — a privately held family business involved in the offshore oil and gas, onshore industrial, real estate and construction sectors — is this year's Entrepreneur Of The Year

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200 Teachers To Use Agora’s Vizwik

Moncton-based startup Agora Mobile has launched a new method of teaching coding and has already signed up about 200 teachers to use the product.

Agora Mobile is an ambitious company founded by Dalhousie University computer science alum Simon Gauvin, who hopes to revolutionize the way people learn coding.

Agora’s main product, Vizwik, lets anyone create apps that work on all mobile devices and that never have to be downloaded or updated. The company lets users join a social network on which they can develop their own apps. They can share these apps with other people. Soon, the system

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Drawing Women to the Gaming Sector

Although women are playing online games in ever greater numbers, female game developers and computer programmers remain rare. That’s something Kirsten Tomilson is working to change as she develops her own digital media company, Fourth Monkey Media.

“I don’t understand why there aren’t more women working in the gaming industry,” said Tomilson, CEO and president of the Bridgewater-based

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Spring Loaded Raises $270K in VC

Having secured a fresh tranche of venture capital financing, Spring Loaded Technology Inc. is looking for a few volunteers to beta-test its revolutionary “bionic” knee brace.

The company said it has just raised $270,000 in equity financing from Innovacorp and has now raised total financing – including equity, debt and grants – of $1.8 million.

Having started at Dalhousie University’s Starting Lean class in September 2012, Spring Loaded is developing a knee brace that strengthens as well as stabilizes the joint. The product can increase the performance of athletes or grant greater

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ABK Names Abraham CEO

ABK Biomedical Inc., a Halifax medical device startup, said Thursday it has appointed founder Bob Abraham as its new CEO, succeeding industry vet Pat O’Connor.

The company had had bases in both Halifax and Ireland, but under Abraham’s leadership it will consolidate its operations in Halifax.  

ABK is the developer of OccluRad — tiny bio-compatible glass beads used to treat uterine fibroids, or benign tumours, in a woman’s uterus. The product improves efficiency and safety when treating women for the affliction. The company hopes to have OccluRad on the market in Europe in the second

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