Press Release: NBIF’s Breakthru Pot

The New Brunswick Innovation Foundation has issued the following press release:

BREAKTHRU LAUNCHES WITH HIGHEST PRIZE POT TO DATE

New Brunswick's Startup Competition exceeds $500,000 to startup three new companies

FREDERICTON, NB—The New Brunswick Innovation Foundation (NBIF), law firm Cox & Palmer and Deloitte launched the fifth edition of Breakthru, New Brunswick’s biennial startup competition, with its highest prize pot ever. Seasoned and aspiring entrepreneurs alike will compete for over $500,000 in cash and professional services.

The prizes will help to launch three innovative

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BioPort, Collide Take Place This Week

Two of the major events on the Halifax startup calendar -- BioPort Atlantic and Collide – are getting under way today and tomorrow.

BioPort Atlantic is the region’s main life sciences conference, and its full conference agenda unfolds tomorrow at the World Trade and Convention Centre in Halifax.  Hosted by BioNova, the annual conference connects people to companies in all stages of development.

The keynote luncheon speaker will be Michael Dunbar, an orthopedic surgeon, professor, researcher and scientific co-founder of Halifax Biomedical.  With $2.6 million in funding from the Atlantic

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Press Release: Eastlink, CEED

Eastlink and the Centre for Entrepreneurship Education and Development have issued the following press release:

Eastlink, Ceed Form Partnership to Support Entrepreneurs

Halifax, NS – Home-grown entrepreneurial success story, Eastlink, and the Centre for Entrepreneurship Education and Development (CEED) announced a special partnership today that will provide additional support to Nova Scotia entrepreneurs and small businesses.

With a strong sense of shared values, CEED and Eastlink aim to further arm entrepreneurs and small businesses with the tools they need for success in an ever

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Acadia’s Aida Eyes Agriculture

Melons are big, heavy fruits. They are also fragile. Their growth is influenced by variable, hard-to-predict weather factors and farmers depend on retailers selling their product before it goes bad.

That’s why one Nova Scotia melon grower has turned to the Acadia Institute for Data Analytics (AIDA) at Wolfville’s Acadia University to help him optimize his yield of cantaloupes.

AIDA got started in January under Director Danny Silver, as part of the Acadia Entrepreneurship Centre’s Incubation and Innovation Services unit -- a group that works hard to promote entrepreneurship in rural

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Nicolle Brings Lessons from Boston

History has given Halifax profound ties to Boston. But Boston has a lot to teach Halifax about entrepreneurship, believes Steve Nicolle, CEO of Halifax health-care IT company STI Technologies.

Nicolle, a P.E.I. native, worked in the startup sector in Boston for 10 years before becoming STI CEO in January 2010.

 “I learned Americans don’t fear failure at all; it’s a big difference,” he said.

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Press Release: Engage Conference

Engage, a new conference on innovation and collaboration, has issued the following press release:

Engage Conference To Be Held Nov. 17-18 in Halifax

New conference to demonstrate how research and development partnerships between universities and entrepreneurs will result in economic growth and improved university education

Halifax, Nova Scotia - A new Halifax event will show how partnerships between Atlantic Canadian universities and entrepreneurs can drive economic growth in the region and improve the learning experience for university students who study here.

The Engage 2014

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Endurance Buys Seaforth Assets

Endurance Wind Power of Surrey, B.C., has bought some of the assets of wind turbine maker Seaforth Energy and opened a regional office and service centre in the Nova Scotian startup’s former base of Dartmouth.

The buyer, one of the world's leading manufacturers of wind turbines for local power generation, issued a statement late Thursday announcing the opening of the office. Former Seaforth CEO Mike Morris, who joined the company in late 2012, has become Endurance's General Manager for Eastern North America.

The company is now growing its local staff and is installing products in Nova

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Dal, Next 36 Form Partnership

Dalhousie University and The Next 36 have struck a partnership that will help more Dal undergrads attend one of the most demanding startup programs in the country.

Dal President Richard Florizone and Jon French, Director of Marketing and Communications at The Next 36, announced the partnership at a reception at the president’s residence on Wednesday.  

Though Dal students have already gone through the program, the partnership means Dalhousie will now become one of a handful of educational institutions that have a formal relationship with The Next 36. The university will give financial

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PEI BioAlliance Launches Emergence

The Prince Edward Island BioAlliance has unveiled the new “farms to pharma” incubator that it’s launching with funding from the National Research Council’s Canadian Accelerator and Incubator Program.

Emergence is an incubator designed to help nurture the PEI cluster of biotech and food-tech companies, as well as others in the region. It will not feature intense cohorts like the modern tech accelerator but will offer long-term assistance to companies to help them develop over the long-haul.

“This is not a bootcamp model at all because it recognizes that company development t in this

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Genome Canada Funds 2 Programs

Genome Canada on Wednesday announced two research projects totalling $7.6 million that will undertake genomic research with the goal of improving East Coast aquaculture.

The not-for-profit organization that champions genetic research in the country announced two projects in the region that will each receive $3.8 million. They are: the Salmon and Chips Project, which is a collaboration of Cooke Aquaculture Inc. of Blacks Harbour, N.B., its Kelly Cove Salmon unit and the University of Guelph; and the Biomarker Platform for Commercial Aquaculture Feed Development project, conducted by the

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