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Ed Barrett says the KIRA awards aren't designed to showcase gizmos and gadgets, but highlight how local companies are helping people across the province become better connected.

"I suspect if we all had the opportunity to sit and share our experiences we'd find we had a lot in common," the co- chief executive of the Barrett Corp. said of his fellow nominees. "I think we'd all share a zeal to provide communication vehicles for people's lives, for their education, for their pleasure."

The KIRA awards recognize breakthroughs in IT across New Brunswick. Barrett is this year's finalist for Industry Person of the Year for his company's work in bringing broadband Internet access to rural areas from coast to coast.

The Barrett Corp. is one of the few companies in the world to use both towers and satellites to offer wireless Internet services, , creating a network that can reach the far corners of even the thinnest populated areas in the country.

"I'm not so bold to say that our broadband system can stem the tide of urbanization in this country, or that it should," he said. "But Canadians need to be able to choose where they want to live and still have access to communication skills you would enjoy in one of our biggest cities."

Virtual Expert Clinics (VEC), KIRA finalist for Export Product of the Year, develops software to offer different communication skills on a more individual level. The Fredericton company's Autism Pro program is designed to help teachers craft more effective lesson plans for autistic children. With more than 10,000 pages of content available at a mouse click, the software has been purchased by school districts in Poland, Australia, and around the world.

"New Brunswick companies have to each create a niche market in order to become world companies," said VEC president and founder Cynthia Howroyd. "You have to be very focused and specific, and offer what no one else can"¦ no one has software as specialized as ours (for autistic children), and rather than spending millions in every district to revamp they can come to us, and use our content to get their lesson plans quickly up to speed."

But Felipe Chibante said flexibility is an even bigger part of the recipe for success in New Brunswick's IT field. The UNB engineering professor is mentoring a student startup called Smart Skin. It will be a device made up of minute nanotech pressure sensors, grafted over prosthetics like skin, designed to one day help users regain the feeling in their lost limbs.

"If it was just a one trick pony the lifespan would be pretty short," he said, "But we're hoping to make a platform technology for all kinds of environments."

Kumaran Thillainadarajah, a fourth year computer engineering student heading up the project, said those other environments could include video games. He said Smart Skin could make for controllers that don't need buttons.

"If you think about it, the Nintendo Wii doesn't have the best graphics, but what makes it so successful is that it can let you play with motion, it's more intuitive," he said. "Imagine if that game could not only measure your swing of a virtual golf club, but the tightness and angle of your grip... Whether it's a more realistic game or way to help people regain their sense of touch, it's all about providing the next level of human interaction."

Carolyn Kervin, co-chair of the 2009 KIRA Awards, said all the finalists share in building that next level of interaction in different ways across the province.

"People tend to think of technology as something cold, like automated bank services," she said. "But our finalists show IT can run the gamut, how it can break barriers and bring people together."

The 2009 Kira awards will be held at the Delta on May 7. For eleven years the gala has recognized innovators and breakthroughs in New Brunswick's information technology industry. The event is hosted by Enterprise Fredericton,a local firm dedicated the city's business and workplace development. Tickets are $100 per person or $800 per table, and can be purchased via Wendy Gallant at Enterprise at 457-4863 or wendy.gallant@ent-fredericton.ca.