After helping Nova Scotian researchers become entrepreneurs for 15 years, the Early-Stage Commercialization Fund is moving into New Brunswick.

The New Brunswick Innovation Foundation, or NBIF, announced Monday that it is launching the fund in New Brunswick with $500,000 in support from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, or ACOA. Halifax-based Innovacorp has been operating the fund in Nova Scotia since 2005 and its success convinced NBIF and ACOA to expand it to New Brunswick.

The fund will contribute up to $50,000 per project to New Brunswick post-secondary researchers pursuing entrepreneurial opportunities. Its goal is to fund the work that’s needed to understand if academic research can produce a product that people will buy, and how to get that product to market.

“Typically, academics are not equipped with pitch decks, venture plans, market awareness or financial projections,” said NBIF Director of Investment Ray Fitzpatrick in a statement. “This is a common roadblock on the venture side of our business, as most researchers work with an entirely different, yet equally important set of skills.”

Researchers can use the money to fund the early stages of launching a startup based on their R&D. They can use the funds for market entrance strategies, business planning, and intellectual property protection. All research projects must demonstrate readiness to advance a technology that has achieved or is close to reaching a prototype, or proof of the concept stage.

After seeing the success of the program in Nova Scotia, NBIF Director of Research Laura Richard reached out to Innovacorp to learn about the program and bring it to New Brunswick.

“NBIF and Innovacorp know that start-ups can help transform our region’s economy,” said Innovacorp President and CEO Malcolm Fraser. “We also know post-secondary researchers are behind some of our most promising technology ventures. It’ll be great to work together with NBIF to help move more university and college innovations to market.”

Added his NBIF counterpart Jeff White: “This is a program for our research community, built on the strength of our partnership with ACOA and Innovacorp. We are working to develop a culture where commercialization and technology transfer is a routine part of the research process. The faster we bring these projects to market, the sooner we put them to work improving our economy."

Disclosure, NBIF, ACOA, and Innovacorp are clients of Entrevestor.