Halifax Regional Municipality’s new economic growth strategy is gunning for a 100,000-person population increase in the next five years, as the city looks to solve the skilled labour crunch that has left local startups scrambling for employees.

The 73-step economic plan — dubbed People. Planet. Prosperity. Halifax’s Inclusive Economic Strategy 2022-2027 — includes three main strategic targets:

On the back of launching its living lab at the Port of Halifax’s PIER innovation centre, building management startup B-Line has been accepted into the National Association of Realtors’ REACH scale-up program in the U.S.

REACH and its sister program, REACH Commercial, are run by NAR’s Second Century Ventures innovation arm. They aim to help companies that have demonstrated significant market

The industry group Eastern Canada Oilseed Development Alliance, or ECODA, and supercluster Protein Industries Canada have inked a deal with Dalhousie University and the University of Prince Edward Island to research plant protein-based food ingredients.

The collaboration, which Protein Industries Canada said in a press release is worth $350,000, is aimed at “laying the groundwork” for an

Saint John-based Innovatia Accelerator, which makes software for information management and communication in industrial settings, has been acquired by Swedish automation and remote monitoring giant Hexagon AB for an undisclosed price.

Innovatia is a group of several digital businesses, and several years ago it launched AcceleratorKMS, a SaaS product that allows industrial workers to access

Two Atlantic Canadian startups have inked collaboration deals with foreign companies: Halifax construction fintech specialist Harbr and Fredericton- and Miami-based sales software-maker Introhive.

Introhive sells artificial intelligence technology to identify data stored in companies’ computer systems and help them use it to increase revenue and improve productivity. And Harbr automates

After six years leading the Memorial Centre for Entrepreneurship, Florian Villaumé has been selected as the new CEO for techNL, the Newfoundland and Labrador association for digital industries.

The techNL board’s search committee had been working with the seach agency Knightsbridge Robertson Surrette for several months to find a replacement for former CEO Paul Preston. He left the organization

Volta CEO Martha Casey will step down this month after almost two years in the role, rejoining former collaborator Richard Florizone at the International Institute for Sustainable Development, or IISD, as Vice-President of Operations and Organizational Transformation.

Casey previously served as Florizone’s chief of staff when he was president of Dalhousie University. There, she was involved in

The New Brunswick Innovation Foundation has announced $1 million of investments in a trio of artificial intelligence research and development projects via its Strategic Acceleration program for ongoing research projects.

The three university-based R&D groups have also leveraged the money from NBIF to raise another $946,000 of funding, including money from the private sector. The Strategic

Medtech company Precision BioLogic and cleantech star CarbonCure Technologies have been honoured at the Halifax Chamber of Commerce’s 2022 Halifax Business Awards. CarbonCure won Innovative Business of the Year and Precision BioLogic won the headline Business of the Year award.

The two Dartmouth startups were part of a roster of innovation-driven companies nominated this year. The nominees for

A group of 26 Cape Breton investors have pooled $1.3 million of their personal money to form the island’s first venture capital fund, Cape Breton Capital Group.

General Partner Todd Mercer, who runs residential oil supply company Mercer Fuels, said in an interview that the fund was inspired by regular gatherings of local businesspeople, during which they often discussed ways of fostering