Startup Genome, the San Francisco-based organization that assesses and ranks startup ecosystems around the world, has named Chris Crowell its first ambassador in Atlantic Canada.

Crowell is the former Vice-President of Corporate Innovation at Halifax-based Volta, having previously worked at Waterloo, Ont.-based OpenText and Saint John-based Mariner. He has a long history of connecting and promoting Atlantic Canada outside of the region having founded East Coast Connected in 2007 while living in Toronto.

Startup Genome releases an annual report categorizing and ranking startup ecosystems globally.  Atlantic Canada was included in the 2019 report for the first time and was ranked No. 4 among the “activation phase” ecosystems. That means its support system is relatively young and its startup base small.  The region was exceeded in this category only by: Western Denmark;  Belgrade and Novi Sad (Serbia); and Taipei City.

Startup Genome also said Atlantic Canada was a top 15 ecosystem for cost competitiveness.

“Being included in the Startup Genome report is very valuable for Atlantic Canada,” said Crowell in a statement. “Not only does it validate the hard work that many great organizations have been doing to build our innovation capacity, it is also a signal to the rest of Canada and the world that we are competitive and have immense value to offer.”

The role of the Startup Genome ambassador is to hold quarterly “Startup Agora” dinners to bring together founders and policymakers, curate stories from the startup ecosystem and help Startup Genome improve the quality of data in its annual reports.

“I am excited to represent Atlantic Canada in the Startup Genome network, to promote our talented founders and share our stories”, said Crowell.  “As we continue to grow our startup ecosystem, it is imperative that we build more connections globally and promote our successes.  Startup Genome is part of doing that.”