The Nova Scotia government announced Wednesday that it would fund four “sandboxes” – places where students and others can get together, swap business ideas and collaborate on forming startups – at groups of post-secondary institutions.

All four winners are groups of institutions so they can pool their resources and enhance the opportunities for collaboration. The goal is to establish physical spaces supported by entrepreneurial programs where members of the university and college communities can work together to generate new businesses.

The teams are:

•Island Sandbox, comprising Cape

The second annual Atlantic Venture Forum, taking place in Halifax on June 17 and 18, will emphasize the development of relationships between Atlantic Canada and the northeastern United States.

Critical Path Group, the Calgary operation that organizes the event, announced this week that the keynote address at the forum will be delivered by Dan Park, a vice-president at Azure Capital Partners in Silicon Valley. The Canadian native is responsible for evaluating investment opportunities across Canada and has spent time in New York City and on the West Coast.

The inaugural Atlantic Venture

The first Innovation Week in Newfoundland and Labrador will kick off on May 5 in St. John’s and will highlight the rapid advancement of the startup community in the province.

Startup NL, which has recently been incorporated as a not-for-profit organization, didn’t exist two years ago and now has 200 members. Though its largest affiliated body is Startup St. John’s, it is now working at getting Startup Corner Brook off the ground. And the co-working space Common Ground has opened its doors at 30 Harvey Rd. in St. John's, providing a workplace for several entrepreneurs and a meeting place

Dash Hudson, the Halifax-based startup that helps men to shop for clothes online, has released the following press release:

DASH HUDSON OFFERS FIRST MOBILE STORE FOR PERSONALIZED MEN’S STYLE

New Men’s Styling App Helps Guys Evolve Their Look with Free Recommendations

MARCH, 19, 2014 (New York, New York) – Dash Hudson is a new mobile store that changes the way men shop and approach their personal style. Launching today, the app offers a fleet of personal stylists who assess each customers’ preferences and lifestyle and build them a modern, flexible wardrobe with selections from a

The inaugural event of the newly formed Acadia Institute for Data Analytics will explore the use of data in the wine and fruit-growing sectors.

The seminar, titled Data Analytics for the Wine & Fruit-Growing Industries, will take place on the morning of March 29 at Clark Commons at Acadia University in Wolfville.

“Data analytics has and will continue to have a major impact on the agricultural and agri-food industries in Nova Scotia,” said Wesley Booth, the Communications and Events Coordinator for the Institute in a release. “The goal of the seminar is to demonstrate how data analytics

Doug Milburn proudly says Advanced Glazings has recovered from the “dark period” it endured after 2007 — and he is not just referring to the global economic slowdown.

The Sydney company is best known for its advanced building product — translucent walls that allow sunlight to fill any interior, thereby reducing the need for electric light. But it is almost as well known for a still-unresolved lawsuit that erupted in 2007 between its shareholders that cast a pall over the company for several years.

In November 2007, Milburn was removed as president after a board motion introduced by

Launch36, the regional tech accelerator, has chosen its fourth cohort of startups, which reveals a diversification away from its core sector of information technology.

The six-member cohort includes the cleantech company Hyton Innovations of Fredericton, which is developing waste-water-treatment facilities that can be transported in a single shipping container.

“Based on our five-year plan, we are going to be diversifying our focus to serve other markets,” said Trevor MacAusland, the Executive Director of PropelICT, which operates the accelerator.  He added the only other non-IT company

 

Halifax-based green building materials company CarbonCure yesterday released the following press release:

Basalite bringing green concrete to the Emerald City

Basalite leading concrete sustainability with its conversion to CarbonCure 

March 17, 2014 - Seattle may be nicknamed the Emerald City due to its lush forests, but thanks to Basalite Concrete Products (Basalite), Seattle is about to get even greener. Basalite announced Friday that it will be expanding its green concrete masonry offerings by installing CarbonCure’s technology in its Dupont, Washington plant.

CarbonCure

Teknically, a startup from Wilfrid Laurier University that helps small businesses improve their websites, captured top honours at Canada’s Business Model Competition at Dalhousie University on Saturday.

The company founded by students Andrew Paradi and Brandon Chow beat out 15 other competitors at the two-day event, and an extremely strong field of four finalists on Saturday afternoon. As

In its search for the top 15 startups across Canada, Metabridge is inviting applications from Atlantic Canadian companies.

Taking place June 12-13 in Kelowna, B.C., Metabridge is a networking, mentorship and pitching event at which some of the leading North American investors and entrepreneurship specialists will get together with the country’s leading growth-stage companies.

Andrew Greer, program manager at Accelerate Okanogan and an organizer of Metabridge, said in a discussion last week that the targets are established tech startups enjoying a high-growth trajectory. These are