The 2015 KIRA Award’s Selection Committee on Thursday announced the finalists for New Brunswick’s Knowledge Industry Recognition and Achievement Awards, with Eigen Innovation Inc. of Fredericton capturing two nods.

Eigen, whose industrial Internet algorithms help companies automate a range of actions in their manufacturing processes, is a finalist in the Innovative New Product or Service category and in Most Promising Startup.

KIRA Awards are handed out annually to members of the public and private sectors to recognize the contributions the people, companies and organizations have made to developing innovation in New Brunswick.

The winners will be announced May 7 at a dinner at the Fredericton Convention Centre. To order tickets, call 855-682-KIRA (5472) or send an e-mail to kira@knowledgepark.ca.

The finalists are:

Economic Impact

- The oNBoard Award

•Blue Spurs, Fredericton, a tech service company focused on using modern technologies, development tools, and agile methods to solve real customer problems;

•BMM Test Labs, Dieppe, the longest-established private independent gaming certification lab in the world;

•Siemens Canada Limited, Fredericton, the Canadian arm of the German industrial conglomerate Siemens AG.

Innovative New Product or Service

•Excipio Technologies Inc., Moncton, which has developed faster, more specific and efficient exosome isolation for the development of diagnostic tests;

•RtTech Software Inc., whose state-of-the-art automation helps industrial companies improve manufacturing processes;

•Eigen Innovations Inc.

Most Promising Start-Up

•Eigen Innovation Inc. ;

•Qimple Inc., Moncton, which makes the hiring process easier for recruiters and applicants with its applicant-tracking system and proprietary candidate-scoring tool;

•Resson Aerospace, Fredericton, whose software analyzes data collected from farm fields to maximize production.

Innovation in the Public Sector

•New Brunswick Innovation Foundation, Fredericton, the provincial innovation agency;

•Cancer Prevention and Screening Program – NB Cancer Network & Health Business and Technology Solutions - NB Department of Health;

•River Watch - NB Department of Environment and Local Government

Industry Champion

•Dhirendra Shukla, head of the University of New Brunswick’s Management, Technology and Entrepreneurship Program;  

•David Alston, Chief Innovation Officer at Introhive;  

•And Chris Mathis, CEO of Springboard Atlantic.

Disclaimer: Entrevestor receives financial support from government agencies that support startup companies in Atlantic Canada. The sponsoring agencies play no role in determining which companies and individuals are featured in this column, nor do they review columns before they are published.