BioNova, the association for the Nova Scotia life sciences industry, announced last week that its Good News Story for 2015 has been awarded to DSM Nutritional Products for its decision to invest at least $30 million in new capital to upgrade and expand its facilities in Mulgrave, N.S.

BioNova each spring has a celebration with the oxymoronic title Good News and Blues, which celebrates a good news story and lets members of the biotech community play some classic rock or blues hits. (Some are better musicians than you’d think.)

The DSM story caught the judge’s eyes in part because it demonstrated once again that startups can continue to grow in the region after they have been sold off to multinationals.

Royal DSM of the Netherlands in 2012 paid $540 million for Dartmouth-based Ocean Nutrition of Canada, which had been started by Clearwater Fine Foods to produce nutritional additives out fish-oil derived Omega-3 fatty acids.

There were fears the sale meant the operations would leave the province, but DSM has increased its business in Nova Scotia. And late last year it announced the investment of about $30 million into its omega-3 production facility in Mulgrave, which offered support for the economy in the Strait of Canso area.

“This investment validates what we believe – [that] we have the ability to compete on a global scale and an investment of this magnitude proves that,” said BioNova Managing Director Scott Moffit in a statement. “Attracting companies like DSM is something to be celebrated and embraced.  Beyond jobs, their investment goes a long way to developing capacity, capability and a highly skilled rural workforce which will have long lasting impact.”

One interesting note is to remember complaints not long ago that big exits would mean home-grown companies leaving the region. But some of the region’s largest exits have led to big investments here. Salesforce, which bought Radian6 of Fredericton and GoInstant of Halifax, has continued to increase its employment levels here. And BioVectra of Charlottetown is now carrying out a multi-year, multi-million investment program. The company, bought by Questcor Pharmaceuticals of Anaheim, Calif., will spend $30 million this year and $15 million for each of the next several years.