2011 – How Cool Was That!

The start of a new year is always a time for reflection.  Not just on the 14 new ways you discovered to use leftover turkey, but when looking back on innovation and technology in New Brunswick this past year, you can’t help but get  excited.  Simply put, we had a year that was wall-to-wall full of cool developments in innovation ... from hot start-ups to major league acquisitions.  Everywhere you turned it seemed there was tech buzz in the air.  Now to take a look back.

“The eyes of the world are upon you.”

The New York Times announced that Moncton-based Lymbix’s Tone Check was considered to be one of the most innovative ideas in 2010.

The Intelligent Community Forum (ICF)  announced that Saint John has joined the ICF Most Intelligent Community global network of smart cities, joining fellow NB ICF alumni Fredericton and Moncton.

The Radian 6 and Q1 Labs deals, the largest in New Brunswick since Spielo, attracted national and international attention and notoriety.

World-renowned technology guru and author Geoffrey Moore delivers keynote luncheon address in Moncton and puts on an exclusive “Crossing the Chasm” workshop.

Gururaj Deshpande, a co-chair of United States President Barak Obama's National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and former UNB alum, teamed up with NB’s own tech guru Gerry Pond to launch the Pond-Deshpande Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

“Got my mojo working ...”

Certainly there were lots of exciting developments in the Tech South East community.  We saw our membership and partnership roster grow to over 80, initiated our education and community outreach  programs, and began celebrating both National Biotech Week and National Science and Technology Week with a variety of activities.

The real action though was with our companies ... from the breakthrough technologies of health and life science firms like Soricimed and Picomole… to the emergence of many hot new tech companies like Vinvox and Vidcruiter… to strong growth years for firms such as Vimsoft, PropertyGuys.com, Sentinel Systems, Gogii Games, and Lymbix. 

Plus we saw some local M&A activity as Elite (Thomson Reuters) acquired both Sackville-based Kleinmundo and Moncton’s Oracle division (formerly Whitehill).  Then, as the year closed, we had the announcement of another tech start-up with Clarity.fm. Add to the mix the launch of iCommunications’ “Gingle” app for smart phones. And there is more coming!

 

Lots of exciting developments across the province ...

New cancer research chairs at UdeM and UNBSJ were announced.  Cisco funded a new advanced technology chair at UNB and IBM is working with UNB to further develop its JAVA platform. Dalhousie Medicine New Brunswick added Moncton, Fredericton and Miramichi to its distributed education program that will allow doctors to be trained closer to home. 

A dedicated tech fund in the Miramichi region was launched.  Exciting new tech prospects emerged from NBIF’s Breakthru competition.  The NBIT Council launched its Class of 2011 program. The Aboriginal Workforce Development Initiative launched their ICT skills development partnership program. Our colleagues at propel ICT rolled out their Launch 36 strategy.

There were important changes in our community college system that should position NBCC and CCNB to be even more effective players in innovation across New Brunswick. The province and the premier took a leadership role in the i-Canada initiative.  And we had signals in the province’s Throne Speech of work on an innovation strategy for New Brunswick.

“Please, may I have some more??”

This captures some of the highlights of what truly was a big year in innovation for our region and our province.  Building on this momentum, you cannot help but get a little jazzed about the prospects for 2012.  We know we have some important challenges ahead, but at the same time I also see a growing sense of confidence and spirit of “working together” here in the south east and throughout New Brunswick.

So here’s to 2012 ... may it be every bit as cool as the year past…. and then some.

Doug Robertson

President & C.E.O. of Tech South East Inc.