When he was working as a chemist in Iran, Mostafa Aghaei developed a solution from natural polymers that successfully combatted the erosion and movement of sand dunes – a huge problem in the desert nation.

When he came to Canada three years ago, he became an entrepreneur and began looking for local applications for his unique nanocoil product; a natural solution that becomes a fixative when it hardens.

And now he’s on the right track. Aghaei’s company, Biopolynet of Fredericton, has recently struck a partnership with Iron Ore Company (IOC) of Canada, to use the nanocoils to prepare iron pellets(the form in which iron is shipped.)

Aghaei has discovered a way to create natural polymers (strings of molecules) that form into coils, so they lock together when they harden. That means that his solution can stabilize sand dunes in the Iranian desert or help to shape iron into pellets. In fact, as Aghaei explained during a pitch at the BioInnovation Challenge competition at BioPort Atlantic, tests with IOC have shown that it can reduce the production costs of forming iron into pellets by 70 percent.

The fact that Biopolynet is working with one of the world’s largest iron producers shows what immigration can mean to the Atlantic Canadian startup community and economy. Mostafa Aghaei came to Atlantic Canada as an academic and now his company is developing products that could find markets around the world. The fact is Atlantic Canada needs more people like him.

And the startup community in particular can benefit from more immigration. Some of the finest entrepreneurs in the region were born in other countries, and the federal government has introduced a program to encourage more immigrants to come to the region.

“We shouldn’t feel bad that we need talent,” said Rob Barbara, a partner at Build Ventures in Halifax. “Everyone needs talent. More than half the CEOs of Fortune 500 companies weren’t born in the United States.”

The plain fact is Atlantic Canada needs immigration to replace the baby-boomers who are leaving the workforce and the younger people who are leaving the region. Another truth – a somewhat inconvenient one -- is the region thus far has had difficulty attracting immigrants.

For example, in 2012, the four Atlantic Provinces welcomed a total of 6,434 immigrants; a number that didn’t even equal Nova Scotia’s self-proclaimed target of 7,200 immigrants a year. Nova Scotia’s total rose 11 percent to 2,370 in 2012. If that pace of growth continues, Nova Scotia won’t reach the 7,200 annual intake goal until 2023.

One program that could help attract immigrants to the region is Citizenship and Immigration Canada’s new Startup Visa program, which has been rolled out this year. Under the program, Canada will issue as many as 2,700 visas annually to entrepreneurs, and efforts are already being made to ensure some come to Atlantic Canada.

The first successful Atlantic Canadian applicants are, like Aghaei, Iranians. Ehsan Mokhtari and Hadi Shiravi Khozani are co-founders of Ara Labs Security Solutions of Fredericton. They were sponsored by the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation.

The Startup Visa program allows entrepreneurial immigrants to get permanent residency status within six months. They must make their application with the collaboration of an investment or angel group or incubator.

So far, the federal government has approved five organizations to work with the program, including Halifax-based Innovacorp.  As of mid-November, Innovacorp had received 305 expressions of interest and 89 submissions from entrepreneurs in at least 30 countries. It has written four letters of support.

“The Startup Visa Program is exciting because it’s an opportunity to attract the world’s best and brightest entrepreneurs and their technologies to Nova Scotia,” said Stephen Duff, President and CEO of Innovacorp. “These entrepreneurs will create jobs and wealth, propel innovation, and entice more much-needed immigrants to our province.”

The hope is that more Atlantic Canadian organizations will also qualify to participate in the program. The goal is to expand and enrich the pool of entrepreneurs in the region. But Barbara of Build Ventures said Atlantic Canadians overall must still do more to welcome people to the region.

“We’re the friendliest people in the world,” he said. “But we’re a little skeptical of people from away and that’s not good for our economy.”

This article originally appeared in the December 2014 Entrevestor Intelligence report.

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.