Innovacorp is looking for a successor to CEO Stephen Duff, who plans to step down next year, and has ended its I-3 Startup Technology Competition.

Duff said in an interview Tuesday he has told the board of the the Nova Scotia innovation agency that he will not continue as CEO when his five-year term ends in the spring of 2018. The board has hired Knightsbridge Robertson Surrette to conduct the search for his replacement.

He downplayed his exit from Innovacorp, saying he always intended to complete one five-year term and he is now working with the board to ensure an orderly succession when he leaves.

“It will be the end of my term and I’m moving on to the next dimension of my life,” he said.

Duff also said Innovacorp will not stage its I-3 competition this year, believing it can help more startups by regularly staging its Spark competitions in regions around the province. For the past several years, Innovacorp has staged I-3 every second year, naming the two best new startups in five regions around the province, and awarding at least $200,000 to a grand prize winner.

“Because of the evolution of our ecosystem, a biennial event just doesn’t cut it anymore,” said Duff, who has held the position since March 2013.

“Rather than do something once every two years, we’d like to move to doing something on a quarterly basis, moving from region to region.”

The Spark competitions, which have been held several times in Cape Breton and once in western Nova Scotia, award $10,000 to $50,000 to early-stage companies. Innovacorp is considering adding Spark events in the northern mainland and Halifax Regional Municipality so that each year there could be a Spark competition in four different regions.

That would allow small, non-dilutive investments in a range of companies, after which Innovacorp could offer support to prepare them for investment. It could then use its venture capital fund to finance the best companies.

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Meanwhile, the agency would continue to host accelerators in specific sectors. Innovacorp has already held accelerators for oceans industries and clean technology, and is planning similar programs for information technology and life sciences.

Another major initiative that Innovacorp is due to complete this year is the creation of a new venture capital fund in Halifax.

The provincial government will put up $25 million for the fund and has received proposals from seven private-sector players interested in bringing in additional money and managing the fund. An announcement is expected this spring.

Duff is a board member and shareholder at Dartmouth-based Precision BioLogic, where he worked for 26 years before Innovacorp. He indicated he plans to continue with his work on the Precision board after next March.

A major accomplishment of Duff’s tenure was securing $40 million in investment funds for Innovacorp last October, and Duff said he’s proud of the development of the venture capital portfolio. In the five years up to March 31, 2016, the company invested a total of $30 million in 43 Nova Scotian startups.

“If you look at the companies in our portfolio, and the quality of the investments we’ve made over the past few years, I’m very proud of that,” said Duff. “We have some world-class companies in the portfolio and you’re going to see some really interesting developments there.”

[Disclaimer: Innovacorp is a client of Entrevestor.]