If there’s one conclusion to draw from the Launch36 Demo Day in Dieppe, N.B., it would probably be that the 250 lucky souls in the audience were witnessing the absolute apex of modern regional development.

I say probably because there are so many aspects of the celebration Tuesday night to reflect on. The 10 young companies on display were impressive. The delivery was entertaining and polished. The presentation was clean and concise. The show did not drag. The atmosphere was celebratory and all the better for seeing people who have very quickly become old friends.

But a day later, the thing that stands out is that it would be almost impossible to improve on Launch 36 as a means of generating growth in successful companies with absolutely minimal cost to belt-tightening governments. Launch36 has developed not only 10 fine companies but also a community of supporters who willingly, if not joyfully, train these entrepreneurs for free.

"The thing that blows me away is the involvement we have with people," said PropelICT Chairman David Baxter.

Propel ICT, the New Brunswick tech body that promotes entrepreneurship in digital technology, began Launch36 as a five-month accelerator program to prepare tech companies for investment and the marketplace. Propel ICT Executive Director Trevor MacAusland originally aimed to stage two cohorts a year, with six companies in each, so over three years a total of 36 companies would have gone through the program.  

But the companies that showed up for Cohort 1 were so strong they took on 11, including two from Halifax, so Launch36 has grown into a regional accelerator. Ten of the companies presented their products and asked for investment at Demo Day before a crowd that included investors from Atlantic Canada and elsewhere. (One company decided it was not yet ready for the Demo.)

These 10 companies have already booked some impressive metrics in terms of product development, sales and fund raising.

Having passed through the accelerator, all of them are emerging with products that are just about ready to go to market. Xiplinx, which helps large factories monitor production by having shop floor technicians file reports on mobile devices, is far enough along that it has already signed two global beverage companies as customers.

Several startups are already bringing in revenue and generating economic returns for the region. For example, CyberPsyc, which is developing virtual reality technology that exposes individuals to something they fear to help cure anxiety and phobias, estimates it will book revenues of $95,500 this year. CEO Darren Piercey forecast the company will be profitable in 2014 and post revenues of $6 million in 2016. Other companies are boasting similar growth metrics.

And several of these companies have already drawn in investment. By my calculation, based on comments in the presentations and talking to the entrepreneurs, the 10 companies have already received investment or commitments totaling about $950,000. That figure may be conservative, as I didn’t get a chance to talk to all the entrepreneurs.

In all, these companies are searching for a total of $7.07 million, including the money they have already raised. Just to be clear, they’ve tapped government programs like NRC-Irap and SR&ED, but their main funding will come from private investors.

In fact, it would be impossible – I mean impossible – to devise a program that achieved more government goals and cost the government less. Propel ICT is supported by 22 sponsors, and none is a government entity. Here’s what Launch36 has cost provincial or federal governments this year: $0, or if not zero, then damn close to it.

Launch36 is just beginning, and it will be fascinating to watch its evolution. The boldest vision for the program was expressed Tuesday by Sean Fahey, CEO of VidCruiter, whose technology helps corporate recruiters slash the time and hassle involved in hiring people.

Fahey told the story of the Launch36 gang traveling to Boston to meet tech gurus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and being told repeatedly that the most important thing is to build the proper ecosystem. Extrapolating on that message, Fahey said New Brunswick and Atlantic Canada can develop a small and effective support system that is not encumbered by the distractions of larger locales.

Said Fahey: "We could build something here that doesn’t exist anywhere else."