A leading authority on the Israeli startup behemoth told New Brunswickers last night to recognize the strides they’d made in developing their own startup community and to look for collaboration opportunities around the world.

Saul Singer, the Co-Author of Startup Nation: The Story of Israel’s Economic Miracle, said in the keynote speech at the R3 Gala that Atlantic Canada’s startup community had progressed further than many other locations, and we should recognize and celebrate that fact.

“You’ve had your first successes,” said Singer, noting that the most difficult of developing a startup community is getting it off the ground. With exits such as Q1 Labs, Radian6 and UserEvents, the general population at home as well as startup communities elsewhere begin to notice that something is happening in Atlantic Canada, he said.

He also called for more collaboration between startups in different locations and invited Atlantic Canadian startups to come to Israel to work together on mutually beneficial projects.

R3 is the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation’s biennial awards that recognize achievement by academic researchers in the province. It takes place on the years in which NBIF does not hold its Breakthru startup competition.

The R3 winners for 2014 are:

--  Rodney Ouellette, the CEO and founder of the Atlantic Cancer Research Institute in Moncton. Overseeing more than 30 staff and researchers, Ouellette has developed and commercialized a new test for detecting cancer. Using a small amount of saliva, blood or urine, the test can detect active cancer cells within a 30-minute visit to a doctor's office.

--  Felipe Chibante, a University of New Brunswick professor who innovates with fullerene, otherwise known as a "bucky ball" or Carbon 60. A fullerene is a carbon molecule that has revolutionized many industries from pharmaceuticals to power generation. Chibante last year invented a new method for producing fullerenes at about one-third the cost of previous methods. He is working on various applications of the material, from solar paneling to clothing.

--  And Kevin Englehart, the director of the Institute for Biomedical Engineering at the University of New Brunswick. His work has led to the development of hardware and software that allows people with artificial limbs to operate them with advanced utility and dexterity.

Singer’s book outlines how Israel, a country of 7 million people surrounded by hostile neighbours, has grown into the world’s largest startup community outside Silicon Valley. In congratulating the R3 recipients, he said their work was truly world class and said it is evidence of how far the innovation community in New Brunswick has progressed.

In previous year, the R3 has included the R3 Challenge, in which growth-stage companies were awarded a $50,000 grant to finance research at a New Brunswick institution. Last year, NBIF began its Innovation Voucher program, which grants similar awards of $80,000 regularly to help companies conduct research needed to move their business forward. Give that the foundation now makes such awards throughout the year, it did away with the need for the special award.