The rest of Atlantic Canada has a lot to learn from New Brunswick about developing startups.

That’s the conclusion that I came to after a quick visit to Fredericton this week. It’s an impression that’s been percolating for several years. All four Atlantic provinces can point to successful innovators and support organizations. But here are five features that make New Brunswick special:

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Charlottetown drug manufacturer BioVectra Inc. announced Thursday it has signed a manufacturing agreement with Boston-based Keryx Biopharmaceuticals.

BioVectra will supply Keryx with a key ingredient for its Auryxia tablets, a medicine that treats people with chronic kidney disease.

BioVectra plans to manufacture and supply Ferric Citrate, the active pharmaceutical ingredient, or API, in

A Saint John programmer has responded to the #MeToo movement by developing an app to help sexual assault victims search for other victims of a single predator.

Raven Blue, a user experience developer and father of two girls, has been thinking about his product, PerpTag, (http://www.perptag.com) for a while, and the outcry over sexual misconduct spurred him to develop something to help women.

He

Applications are open for the 2018 Volta Academy, a program put on by Halifax-based Volta Labs that helps future founders take their “big idea” and turn it into a viable startup.

Volta Academy, the newest program put on by Volta, wrapped up its first session this week. Beginning in September, the 11-week program welcomed 18 participants ranging in age from 15 to 55, and helped them to learn how

Mbissa Energy, a Fredericton-based startup devoted to delivering electricity to remote areas, showcased its mini-home that is 100 per cent solar powered last Thursday.

The showcase, open to investors, partners and media, demonstrated how Mbissa Energy’s business model could help improve the lives of people in under-developed countries by harnessing the power of renewable resources like solar

Planet Hatch, Mitacs and the University of New Brunswick have partnered to offer a new pilot program called Accelerate Entrepreneur for UNB graduates or postdoctoral students pursuing entrepreneurial ventures.

Accelerate Entrepreneur is open to all sectors like manufacturing, technical innovation, business processes, IT, social sciences, and design. The program aims to bring young companies out

Once you understand Guild Solution's target market, it’s easy to comprehend the upside of this young Bedford startup.

Guild, which is set to graduate from PropelICT’s Build cohort, has developed administrative software for the association management industry, and has already found clients in the space. Specifically, it targets professional colleges, which are the organizations that oversee the

Halifax-based Keeping Roads Safe has partnered with national cellphone carrier Telus with the goal of keeping drivers off their phone while they’re on the road.

Co-founded by the father-and-son team of Angus and Josh Poulain, KRS has developed a piece of hardware called DriveCare, which is installed on a vehicle’s power source and communicates with a free-to-download app on the user’s phone.

Build Ventures, the Atlantic Canadian regional venture capital firm, has officially started building its second fund with a $15 million commitment from the Nova Scotia government.

The provincial government and its VC agency Innovacorp announced the commitment to Build on Friday. The government will also devote $10 million to another fund for early-stage investments to complete its longstanding

Propel ICT has postponed its Fredericton Demo Day.

Due to concerns about the weather, the regional ICT accelerator said Friday that the Pints and Pitches event scheduled for Tuesday night will now be held on Jan. 23. You can sign up for the event here.

“We were really looking forward to getting together in Fredericton, but the weather is not on our side,” said a Propel blog, festooned with