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 <title>Ecosystem Development</title>
 <link>http://propelict.com/taxonomy/term/232/feed</link>
 <description>The taxonomy view with a depth of 0.</description>
 <language>en</language>
<item>
 <title>The business of international commerce</title>
 <link>http://propelict.com/node/1824</link>
 <description>&lt;div class=&quot;field field-type-text field-field-news-author&quot;&gt;&lt;h3 class=&quot;field-label&quot;&gt;Author&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item&quot;&gt;John Pollack&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field field-type-text field-field-news-source&quot;&gt;&lt;h3 class=&quot;field-label&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item&quot;&gt;Telegraph-Journal, Published Saturday June 6th, 2009&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field field-type-text field-field-news-reference&quot;&gt;&lt;h3 class=&quot;field-label&quot;&gt;Source Url&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item&quot;&gt;http://telegraphjournal.canadaeast.com/rss/article/691298&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field field-type-image field-field-news-image&quot;&gt;&lt;h3 class=&quot;field-label&quot;&gt;Image&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://propelict.com/files/imagecache/articleimage_thumb/files/594_822.jpeg&quot; alt=&quot;594_822.jpeg&quot; title=&quot;594_822.jpeg&quot;  /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field field-type-text field-field-news-image-caption&quot;&gt;&lt;h3 class=&quot;field-label&quot;&gt;Image Caption&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item&quot;&gt;Mike MacNeil is the director of marketing for Mariner Partners Inc. The company is selling two products to North American and European markets. The first, called xVu, is IPTV service assurance. The second, called frostt, is software that allows delivery of the Internet to televisions. Europe is the biggest market for Mariner – there are more than 10.9 million IPTV subscribers there, compared to only 3.3 million in North America.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field field-type-text field-field-news-body&quot;&gt;&lt;h3 class=&quot;field-label&quot;&gt;Body&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Globalization In the face of the worldwide financial meltdown and rising oil prices, a handful of New Brunswick business executives are reaching out to the rest of the world&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;SAINT JOHN - When Saint John tech firm Mariner Partners Inc. looked to Europe, it saw opportunity aplenty.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;But as a small firm with no global cachet, what it needed first was a way to break in to the market for its signature product in monitoring Internet television services.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Mariner found it in a partnership agreement with Endurance Technology. The British firm is a consultant to television providers. It&#039;s a player in the game but not a threat to Mariner&#039;s efforts of jumping in.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&quot;We looked at who else is playing in that landscape - who already has good penetration in the European market that are not our competitors,&quot; says Mike MacNeil, Mariner&#039;s senior marketing director.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;That was in March. Mariner, whose software alerts Internet Protocol TV providers to potential trouble with their feeds, more recently formed a partnership with Israeli company Orca Interactive, which develops the software for the set-top box that converts the broadband feed into an image on the TV screen.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Orca has more than 15 European clients from the pool of about 30 IPTV service providers. And now Mariner has a way in, an introduction that it hopes will pay off handsomely.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&quot;If we have someone like an Orca who&#039;s already in those accounts &quot;¦ that&#039;s a big jumpstart,&quot; MacNeil says.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Europe is the biggest market for Mariner - there are more than 10.9 million IPTV subscribers there, compared to only 3.3 million in North America.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;As the debate rages about whether the worldwide financial meltdown and rising oil prices will spell the end of globalization, MacNeil and other New Brunswick business executives, which are only now reaching out to the rest of the world, are forging ahead.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;With some forecasting IPTV will swell to about 100 million subscribers worldwide within the next five years, MacNeil can only continue to be enthusiastic about opportunity abroad.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;For other New Brunswick companies, such as the Moncton Flight College, international business is chugging along.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The pilot training school first landed a contract with Beihang University in 2006 with the help of an export consultant. The contract has since been renewed and the college has landed five other Chinese deals. Of the roughly 490 students at the college about 340 of them are from China.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Though the economic downturn has taken a bite out of airline travel, the college&#039;s principal and chief executive Mike Doiron says the need for Chinese pilot training has remained the same.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&quot;They&#039;re taking airplanes off their international routes and putting them on their domestic routes because they&#039;re having a decreasing demand internationally and an increasing demand domestically, which is reflective of the international economy,&quot; he says.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;University of Toronto global marketing professor Andrij Brygidyr says this is a common trend, but is more often caused by protectionist actions by governments&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;He says politicians around the world looking to save jobs at home have either implemented domestic content regulations, at least on government contracts, or imposed import tariffs.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This makes exporting more difficult, Brygidyr says, and there&#039;s not much companies can do about it, unless they are conglomerates. He says its government&#039;s role to negotiate with protectionist countries and the only thing businesses can do, unless it&#039;s a conglomerate, is a good job.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&quot;Do common things uncommonly well,&quot; he says quoting Albert Einstein. &quot;Produce good quality things and deliver them on time and within budget.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;But since November New Brunswick&#039;s exports have been down around $700 million, recovering to almost $800 million in March, the latest month Statistics Canada has information for, despite a relatively low loonie. Over the 12 months before the downturn the province&#039;s exports ranged from the lowest of $880 million in February, 2008 to a high of $1.48 billion in July of that year.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Now with the loonie on the rise exports are currently at a disadvantage. &quot;It&#039;s all based on price,&quot; Brygidyr says. &quot;When a price is good people would buy it.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Brygidyr cautions companies to strongly consider other options before looking towards distant export markets, even in good times and especially in the current global economic climate.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&quot;Is it really worth the effort and the risk to do that and could you find a similar opportunity closer to home?&quot; he says. &quot;Only go global when there&#039;s a phenomenal opportunity that doesn&#039;t exist here or you&#039;ve simply exhausted your local markets.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Former CIBC World Market chief economist Jeff Rubin says companies will soon be forced to sell to local markets because, he predicts, the price of oil will soon rise to a point that shipping across an ocean won&#039;t be worthwhile.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&quot;We&#039;re still going to trade with the United States and probably with Mexico,&quot; Rubin says. &quot;We&#039;re not going to trade with countries on the other side of the world, we&#039;re going to trade with our geographic neighbors.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&quot;And maybe even our trade with the U.S. and Mexico will even increase,&quot; he says.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;He says technology will be increasingly important in the future, and a small New Brunswick company providing a service that doesn&#039;t require much shipping or travel will do relatively well.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&quot;They&#039;re OK,&quot; he says. &quot;Just don&#039;t set up a steel plant there to ship steel to China.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
 <comments>http://propelict.com/node/1824#comment</comments>
 <category domain="http://propelict.com/taxonomy/term/232">Ecosystem Development</category>
 <category domain="http://propelict.com/taxonomy/term/120">ICT Industry News</category>
 <pubDate>Sat, 06 Jun 2009 14:32:03 -0300</pubDate>
 <dc:creator>Jeff Roach</dc:creator>
 <guid isPermaLink="false">1824 at http://propelict.com</guid>
</item>
<item>
 <title>More ideas will generate more capital</title>
 <link>http://propelict.com/node/1778</link>
 <description>&lt;div class=&quot;field field-type-text field-field-news-author&quot;&gt;&lt;h3 class=&quot;field-label&quot;&gt;Author&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item&quot;&gt;John Pollack&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field field-type-text field-field-news-source&quot;&gt;&lt;h3 class=&quot;field-label&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item&quot;&gt;Telegraph-Journal, Published Wednesday May 27th, 2009&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field field-type-text field-field-news-reference&quot;&gt;&lt;h3 class=&quot;field-label&quot;&gt;Source Url&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item&quot;&gt;http://telegraphjournal.canadaeast.com/rss/article/679971&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field field-type-image field-field-news-image&quot;&gt;&lt;h3 class=&quot;field-label&quot;&gt;Image&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://propelict.com/files/imagecache/articleimage_thumb/files/837_837.jpeg&quot; alt=&quot;837_837.jpeg&quot; title=&quot;837_837.jpeg&quot;  /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field field-type-text field-field-news-image-caption&quot;&gt;&lt;h3 class=&quot;field-label&quot;&gt;Image Caption&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item&quot;&gt;Marcel LeBrun, chief executive of Radian6, a New Brunswick company that has become a global leader in social media monitoring, says attracting large companies to the province won’t likely create the human capital necessary for developing a cluster of new innovative businesses. LeBrun says the province just needs the people that are here to bring their innovative ideas to market. ‘I’m a believer that the more good ideas there are the more capital will come.’&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field field-type-text field-field-news-body&quot;&gt;&lt;h3 class=&quot;field-label&quot;&gt;Body&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Technology Executive favours attracting entrepreneurs to province, not big companies&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;New Brunswick needs to stop promoting the province as a place to do business if it wants to encourage new innovative startups, a leading technology executive says.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Marcel LeBrun, chief executive of Radian6, a New Brunswick company that has become a global leader in social media monitoring, says attracting large companies to the province won&#039;t likely create the human capital necessary for developing a cluster of new innovative businesses.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&quot;If they&#039;re setting up here because they can get access to low cost call centre workers than no, it&#039;s not going to do anything for the tech sector,&quot; LeBrun said of a large technology company hypothetically opening operations here. &quot;If they move their research and development here that would be a different thing, but I don&#039;t think that&#039;s what&#039;s being sold to them at the moment.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;He said idea generation is usually kept close to the leadership of a company that won&#039;t likely move its headquarters here.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;LeBrun will be the keynote speaker at Propel ICT&#039;s annual general meeting today in Saint John. His speech to the technology association crowd will focus on how web 2.0, particularly social media, provides new opportunities for businesses and further breaks down geographic borders.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Though the Internet has connected people around the world for about 20 years, LeBrun said in an interview, he will argue in his speech that the more recent popularity of the social web makes virtual proximity more important than physical proximity thereby eliminating geography as a factor for many businesses.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;LeBrun said attracting companies to New Brunswick may make sense on an economic development agenda, and acknowledged discouraging the job creation efforts is controversial, but he, like many others involved with Propel ICT, feel the province needs to have a strong focus on entrepreneurship.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;LeBrun sees value in inspiring creative home-grown business ideas that can use new Internet tools to compete in a world-wide market.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&quot;It&#039;s a global world and we need to build globally minded companies,&quot; he said. &quot;When you&#039;re in a flat world where geography doesn&#039;t matter you can&#039;t take your geography and use it as a differentiator.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;He wants to see New Brunswick develop a technology cluster that will breed creativity, such as in California&#039;s Silicon Valley. Similarly to the popularity of a sport, LeBrun said a successful regional industry will come from people seeing it done and wanting to give it a try.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&quot;If you come to bat enough times you&#039;re eventually going to hit something,&quot; LeBrun said. &quot;I think the number of times we swing our bat is the key metric we need to be focused on.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Though New Brunswick doesn&#039;t have the population or money that Silicon Valley does, he said the province just needs the people that are here to bring their innovative ideas to market.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&quot;I&#039;m a believer that the more good ideas there are the more capital will come,&quot; he said.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;LeBrun argues consumers don&#039;t care where a product or service is from - if it is interesting and stands out enough to generate discussion online it will likely sell.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&quot;If you&#039;re a little jewelry company in Fredericton and you&#039;ve got a product that&#039;s remarkable, that people will talk about, there&#039;s no reason why you can&#039;t really figure out how to grow that business,&quot; he said.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
 <comments>http://propelict.com/node/1778#comment</comments>
 <category domain="http://propelict.com/taxonomy/term/94">propel Accelerator</category>
 <category domain="http://propelict.com/taxonomy/term/98">Capital/Investment</category>
 <category domain="http://propelict.com/taxonomy/term/195">Commentary</category>
 <category domain="http://propelict.com/taxonomy/term/232">Ecosystem Development</category>
 <category domain="http://propelict.com/taxonomy/term/100">Entrepreneurship</category>
 <category domain="http://propelict.com/taxonomy/term/120">ICT Industry News</category>
 <category domain="http://propelict.com/taxonomy/term/102">ICT Social Network</category>
 <category domain="http://propelict.com/taxonomy/term/119">Innovation</category>
 <category domain="http://propelict.com/taxonomy/term/97">Startups</category>
 <pubDate>Wed, 27 May 2009 08:33:34 -0300</pubDate>
 <dc:creator>Jeff Roach</dc:creator>
 <guid isPermaLink="false">1778 at http://propelict.com</guid>
</item>
<item>
 <title>Raising the profile</title>
 <link>http://propelict.com/node/1761</link>
 <description>&lt;div class=&quot;field field-type-text field-field-news-author&quot;&gt;&lt;h3 class=&quot;field-label&quot;&gt;Author&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item&quot;&gt;Rebecca Penty&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field field-type-text field-field-news-source&quot;&gt;&lt;h3 class=&quot;field-label&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item&quot;&gt;Telegraph Journal, Published Tuesday May 19th, 2009&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field field-type-text field-field-news-reference&quot;&gt;&lt;h3 class=&quot;field-label&quot;&gt;Source Url&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item&quot;&gt;http://telegraphjournal.canadaeast.com/rss/article/671115&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field field-type-image field-field-news-image&quot;&gt;&lt;h3 class=&quot;field-label&quot;&gt;Image&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://propelict.com/files/imagecache/articleimage_thumb/files/984_568.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;984_568.jpg&quot; title=&quot;984_568.jpg&quot;  /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field field-type-text field-field-news-image-caption&quot;&gt;&lt;h3 class=&quot;field-label&quot;&gt;Image Caption&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item&quot;&gt;Premier Shawn Graham and Eindhoven Mayor Rob van Gijzel discussed their respective regions prior to an Intelligent Community Forum luncheon. New Brunswick currently exports nearly $542 million to the Netherlands. ‘This was certainly a very worthwhile meeting,’ Graham said. ‘These are the types of meetings that can grow into something so very important for our province.’ The Eindhoven region, among this year’s top seven smart communities, has been dubbed ‘Brainport’ for its research and development reputation. Photo by: Cindy Wilson/Telegraph-Journal&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field field-type-text field-field-news-body&quot;&gt;&lt;h3 class=&quot;field-label&quot;&gt;Body&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Leaders excited about future opportunities after meeting with the smartest communities in the world&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;New Brunswick is partnering on economic development and trade with some of the world&#039;s brightest communities, as named by a Big Apple think-tank.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;As a conference hosted by the Brooklyn-based Intelligent Community Forum on broadband and a competition between seven communities on tech smarts wrapped up late last week, provincial leaders were talking about future opportunities.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The contest - which saw Fredericton and Moncton vying to be named the intelligent community of the year based on moves to use the Internet for economic and social development - has raised the profile of New Brunswick, said Ben Champoux, business development specialist for the City of Moncton.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&quot;In many, many cases in economic development, we were chasing investors, asking them to come to Moncton, saying, &#039;We&#039;re great,&#039; &quot; Champoux said.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&quot;Now many of those investors are going to be coming to us and saying, &#039;Wow, we&#039;re impressed with Moncton. We want to do business with you.&#039;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&quot;It has changed the name of the game in economic development for us.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Bristol, Va.; Eindhoven, Netherlands; Issy-les-Moulineaux, France; Stockholm, Sweden; and Tallinn, Estonia also made it to the top seven out of nearly 400 bids for recognition.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Champoux said throughout the Intelligent Community Forum competition, which started last summer when applications were due, he and his team have connected with forward-thinking regions with which idea-sharing and greater trade are inevitable.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Moncton representatives met last week with leaders from Waterloo, Ont., - the community that won the think-tank&#039;s award in 2007 and the home of Blackberry-maker Research in Motion - and Issy-les-Moulineaux, France, a top seven community this year.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The Paris suburb was an industrial zone in the early 20th century only to later suffer de-industrialization.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Now, decades of building a knowledge economy has meant the formation of e-government, cyber-kindergarten for children, a cyber tearooms for older citizens, citizen e-participation in decision-making, a successful business incubator and information communication technology-based real estate projects.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&quot;Before we found out we were both in the top seven, we had already discussed how we could partner and work more together,&quot; Champoux said of the French community&#039;s backers, whom he met last year in Paris, citing some opportunities:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&quot;Share ideas, partner on some initiatives, learn from each other, participate in each others&#039; forums and conferences to share our knowledge, and best practices and by default, raise the profile of our respective communities.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Linking with intelligent communities is also a chance to scout for top talent, Champoux said.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In 2007, Moncton representatives went on a talent-procurement trip to Seoul, South Korea and visited the Gangnam-gu district, a community which six months later won the New York think-tank&#039;s annual smart city competition.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The visit led the South Korean population to &quot;increase drastically&quot; in Moncton, Champoux said.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Last Friday, just before a luncheon where this year&#039;s top community - Stockholm - was named, Premier Shawn Graham took a seat on a plush leather-cushioned bench outside the Brooklyn banquet hall with Eindhoven Mayor Rob van Gijzel.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The two chatted about their respective regions and promised to continue the dialogue, which the government has said could lead to increased trade with the Netherlands and investment in New Brunswick.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;According to the government, New Brunswick currently exports nearly $542 million to the Netherlands.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&quot;This was certainly a very worthwhile meeting,&quot; Graham said in a later statement.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&quot;These are the types of meetings that can grow into something so very important for our province.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The Eindhoven region, among this year&#039;s top seven smart communities, has been dubbed &quot;Brainport&quot; for its research and development reputation.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Formerly a rural community, Eindhoven&#039;s university, along with its technology companies - which include the electronics firm Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V., which goes by the name of Philips Electronics Ltd. (NYSE:PHG) - pushed the region into industrialization in the 20th century.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;It is unclear why, specifically, Eindhoven reached out to set up a meeting with New Brunswick.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Brainport director Elies Lemkes-Strave, who also met with Graham in Brooklyn, said her government is interested in how the province has supported its firms during the economic downturn.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&quot;It&#039;s to share experiences in this type of crisis,&quot; she said, adding that there is an opportunity to &quot;open a two-way direction on innovation&quot; and to develop &quot;new product markets.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&quot;The regions are more or less the same size,&quot; she said.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Eindhoven boasts a population of 728,000.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Last year the region made it to the Intelligent Community Forum&#039;s top 21 smart communities.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Wim Renders, Brainport project manager, said in 2008 the region&#039;s reps started conversations with Waterloo, Ont., which will mean a trade mission to the southern Ontario city later this year.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The European civil servant said his region&#039;s &quot;smart car&quot; technology researchers could stand to benefit through work with Waterloo, in the heart of southern Ontario&#039;s auto parts manufacturing region.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Eindhoven researchers work with &quot;high-tech materials&quot; and &quot;embedded systems&quot; for the auto parts sector, Renders said.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&quot;We have an ecosystem of open innovation.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
 <comments>http://propelict.com/node/1761#comment</comments>
 <category domain="http://propelict.com/taxonomy/term/232">Ecosystem Development</category>
 <pubDate>Tue, 19 May 2009 10:50:44 -0300</pubDate>
 <dc:creator>Rowser</dc:creator>
 <guid isPermaLink="false">1761 at http://propelict.com</guid>
</item>
<item>
 <title>New Brunswick: The province that can</title>
 <link>http://propelict.com/node/1757</link>
 <description>&lt;div class=&quot;field field-type-text field-field-news-author&quot;&gt;&lt;h3 class=&quot;field-label&quot;&gt;Author&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item&quot;&gt;Brett Bundale&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field field-type-text field-field-news-source&quot;&gt;&lt;h3 class=&quot;field-label&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item&quot;&gt;Telegraph Journal, Published Monday May 18th, 2009&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field field-type-text field-field-news-reference&quot;&gt;&lt;h3 class=&quot;field-label&quot;&gt;Source Url&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item&quot;&gt;http://telegraphjournal.canadaeast.com/rss/article/670117&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field field-type-image field-field-news-image&quot;&gt;&lt;h3 class=&quot;field-label&quot;&gt;Image&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://propelict.com/files/imagecache/articleimage_thumb/files/659_615.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;659_615.jpg&quot; title=&quot;659_615.jpg&quot;  /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field field-type-text field-field-news-image-caption&quot;&gt;&lt;h3 class=&quot;field-label&quot;&gt;Image Caption&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item&quot;&gt;Gerry Pond&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field field-type-text field-field-news-body&quot;&gt;&lt;h3 class=&quot;field-label&quot;&gt;Body&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Despite small population N.B. can thrive, with a little co-operation, says Gerry Pond&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Gerry Pond thinks New Brunswick is the little province that can.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&quot;When it comes to developing the information and communication technology sector,&quot; he said during a recent interview, &quot;size doesn&#039;t matter.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The chairman of Mariner Partners Inc., a firm specializing in Internet Protocol TV and video, said ICT can thrive in areas with smaller populations.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In the past New Brunswick has been overlooked because it doesn&#039;t have a big city, but with advances in technology and travel that has changed.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&quot;But when companies look for sites to expand or start a business they want a city with at least 500,000 people,&quot; he said. &quot;Anything smaller than that is below their radar.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Pond said it&#039;s time that the province&#039;s three biggest urban centres - Saint John, Fredericton and Moncton - pool their resources.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&quot;At a very operational level we have to synchronize our efforts so that the small city issue is not a stumbling block for our economic development,&quot; he said.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;A report based on numbers from Statistics Canada and prepared for Propel ICT revealed that the three main urban centres - Fredericton, Saint John, and Moncton - are comparable to each other in terms of ICT opportunities and the strength of the sector.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The report said 80 per cent of ICT workers in New Brunswick are located in Saint John, Moncton and Fredericton - compared with only 48 per cent of the total workforce.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In addition, Fredericton still has a slightly higher percentage of ICT workers in its labour market but the gap between the capital and the two other biggest cities has decreased between 1996 and 2006.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Although Mariner&#039;s head office is located in Saint John, the tech firm also has satellite offices in Fredericton and Moncton.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&quot;We operate out of the three cities,&quot; Pond said. &quot;It&#039;s a common labour pool so we don&#039;t look at them as three different municipalities. To folks outside New Brunswick I explain that we have three cities about an hour plus apart. In many urban centres this is a commute that is done every day.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;While his focus may be on marketing the province&#039;s three cities to garner more attention, Pond said the rest of New Brunswick can&#039;t be ignored.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&quot;We have seven cities in the province,&quot; he said. &quot;We need to identify the strengths of each city and every region.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Pond said that although the private sector has an important role to play, the government can help incubate smaller companies in order to breed marquee businesses.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&quot;The ICT company in New Brunswick needs an anchor company like RIM,&quot; he said. &quot;When there is no McCain or Irving of IT it can be hard for the sector in the province to get attention.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Government support for companies to attend trade shows and market their abilities abroad are helpful, Pond said, but added that they could be more &quot;surgical.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&quot;We can do a lot with private sector investment but if you&#039;re at the early stage of development in your industry you are going to need some form of government assistance,&quot; he said. &quot;Even in the heart of Silicon Valley - which is the biggest engine in the world for IT - there is still university support or other public sector monies involved in the background.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Pond said Mariner has tapped into programs through Business New Brunswick that have helped the company grow.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&quot;But I think as an industry our approach could be more organized - especially between the three cities,&quot; he said. &quot;There is a lot of potential if we pool our resources.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
 <comments>http://propelict.com/node/1757#comment</comments>
 <category domain="http://propelict.com/taxonomy/term/232">Ecosystem Development</category>
 <pubDate>Mon, 18 May 2009 16:00:07 -0300</pubDate>
 <dc:creator>Rowser</dc:creator>
 <guid isPermaLink="false">1757 at http://propelict.com</guid>
</item>
<item>
 <title>54Hour StartUp Weekend Launches 3 New ICT Companies</title>
 <link>http://propelict.com/node/1756</link>
 <description>&lt;div class=&quot;field field-type-text field-field-news-author&quot;&gt;&lt;h3 class=&quot;field-label&quot;&gt;Author&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item&quot;&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field field-type-text field-field-news-source&quot;&gt;&lt;h3 class=&quot;field-label&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item&quot;&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field field-type-text field-field-news-reference&quot;&gt;&lt;h3 class=&quot;field-label&quot;&gt;Source Url&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item&quot;&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field field-type-image field-field-news-image&quot;&gt;&lt;h3 class=&quot;field-label&quot;&gt;Image&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://propelict.com/files/imagecache/articleimage_thumb/files/401_643.png&quot; alt=&quot;401_643.png&quot; title=&quot;401_643.png&quot;  /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field field-type-text field-field-news-image-caption&quot;&gt;&lt;h3 class=&quot;field-label&quot;&gt;Image Caption&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item&quot;&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field field-type-text field-field-news-body&quot;&gt;&lt;h3 class=&quot;field-label&quot;&gt;Body&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item&quot;&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;Saint John, NB, May 13, 2009: On May 8th, 9th, and 10th local developers, designers and entrepreneurs gathered together for a community building startup event in the uptown of Saint John, NB. “We intended the event to be a networking opportunity for the local software development community, and hoped that we might be in position to launch one new software a company by the end of the weekend,” says Michael Wilcott, one of the organizers of the event, “But we have managed to exceed that goal”.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;div align=&quot;left&quot;&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;Three different teams, which formed during the course of the event, are now in the process of incorporating in order to continue the development and marketing of the ideas that brought them together starting on Friday night.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;div align=&quot;left&quot;&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;GeoCure&lt;/strong&gt; is a product that seeks to leverage the tremendous growth in adoption of social networking websites like Facebook and Twitter in order to track and present infection rates for many communicable diseases. “Young people like me don’t watch the news, read a paper, or even visit online new sources like CNN to get our information.” said Robert Foley, who pitched the idea of GeoCure, “We get all of our information from social media, a form of news which is more immediate and less filtered than traditional sources.” GeoCure seeks to collect content from various social media sources and use it to track the spread of infections in order to assist consumers in evaluating their risks. “We also think that there are potential applications for various public health organizations, as well as private enterprises that are in the health care space” stated Robert.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;div align=&quot;left&quot;&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;Another product that caught participants attention was&lt;strong&gt; ‘eCeipts’,&lt;/strong&gt; an electronic receipt system that holds the potential to completely transform the way people shop and buy goods. “After every transaction at any retailer the final step in the process is for the cash register to print a paper receipt.” says Alex Scott who presented the eCeipts idea at the event, “Most of us simply throw the paper receipts away, or we lose them. For those who need to keep their receipts for the purposes of tracking expenses, losing them is a major hassle”. eCeipts looks to save consumers these hassles by capturing the information from traditional paper receipts and instead sending it to a database that sits behind a website. The website can be used to store and organize an individual’s receipts in a convenient and powerful format. The eCeipts team is in the process of incorporating and has launched a website at www.eceipts.ca as the first step toward building their eCeipts solution.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;div align=&quot;left&quot;&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;The final group that is moving toward incorporation is working on a web-based game called &lt;strong&gt;‘Karmundi’&lt;/strong&gt;. “We all believe we have an idea that creates a whole new genre of game that we call Progressive Social Gaming”, says Michael Wilcott, spokesman for the six member team that launched &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.karmundi.com&quot;&gt;www.karmundi.com&lt;/a&gt; as part of the 54Hours weekend event. “I’d describe it as part Pokémon, part scavenger hunt, and part social networking” said Wilcott. “We are targeting families who are looking for fun activities that they can do together, that also allows parents to teach positive social values to their children while leveraging the tremendous power of the web to create communities”. The Karmundi team, whose slogan is “Karma. For The World”, is looking to launch a pilot of their new service by September of this year.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;div align=&quot;left&quot;&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;Jeff Roach of &lt;em&gt;propel&lt;/em&gt; said the event is a perfect activity for stimulating entrepreneurship and new business formation at a grassroots level. “Many people have good ideas but very few are able to visualize what that idea looks like as a business.” says Roach. “This weekend event allows people to have fun expanding their ideas and having others share in building on their idea and growing a team of shared interests. We appreciate the efforts and enthusiasm of Jason Richard and Michael Wilcott who organized this event and are proud to sponsor this and future weekend events”. Roach said the &lt;em&gt;propel Accelerator&lt;/em&gt; supports startup companies like these to help them grow rapidly to maturity and profitability with the support of a broad provincial network and hopes to see companies enter the program from events like this.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;div align=&quot;left&quot;&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;As to the 54Hours event itself, Matt Doherty, who joined the eCeipts team, summed it up this way, “…54hours was an experience akin to throwing a handful of seeds in a garden and seeing what grew. To have such a talented cross-section of people come together and create three businesses with actual opportunities is such a great outcome. Everyone who attended brought something different and being surrounded by these people showed me how myopic we can become in our day to day life. It was refreshing to be able to learn from and to interact with such a varied group. If I had to&lt;br /&gt; pick one word to describe the weekend, it would be &amp;#39;intense&amp;#39;”.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;div align=&quot;left&quot;&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;Organizers of New Brunswick’s first 54Hours event have already been approached to hold additional events in both Fredericton and Moncton over the coming year. For updates regarding these events and other 54Hour activities visit &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.54hours.com&quot;&gt;www.54hours.com&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.propelict.com&quot;&gt;www.propelict.com&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;div align=&quot;left&quot;&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;Media Inquires:&lt;br /&gt; Michael Wilcott, (506) 647-3269&lt;br /&gt; Jeff Roach – (506) 642-9029&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;div align=&quot;left&quot;&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;- end -&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
 <comments>http://propelict.com/node/1756#comment</comments>
 <category domain="http://propelict.com/taxonomy/term/92">Media Release</category>
 <category domain="http://propelict.com/taxonomy/term/94">propel Accelerator</category>
 <category domain="http://propelict.com/taxonomy/term/232">Ecosystem Development</category>
 <category domain="http://propelict.com/taxonomy/term/100">Entrepreneurship</category>
 <category domain="http://propelict.com/taxonomy/term/120">ICT Industry News</category>
 <category domain="http://propelict.com/taxonomy/term/119">Innovation</category>
 <category domain="http://propelict.com/taxonomy/term/97">Startups</category>
 <pubDate>Sat, 16 May 2009 11:20:42 -0300</pubDate>
 <dc:creator>Jeff Roach</dc:creator>
 <guid isPermaLink="false">1756 at http://propelict.com</guid>
</item>
<item>
 <title>TME Times Newsletter - April 2009</title>
 <link>http://propelict.com/node/1717</link>
 <description>&lt;div class=&quot;field field-type-text field-field-news-author&quot;&gt;&lt;h3 class=&quot;field-label&quot;&gt;Author&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item&quot;&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field field-type-text field-field-news-source&quot;&gt;&lt;h3 class=&quot;field-label&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item&quot;&gt;Technology Management and Entrepreneurship (TME) Program at UNB Fredericton&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field field-type-text field-field-news-reference&quot;&gt;&lt;h3 class=&quot;field-label&quot;&gt;Source Url&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item&quot;&gt;http://www.unb.ca/jhsc/news_events/newsletter/Apr2009.htm&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field field-type-image field-field-news-image&quot;&gt;&lt;h3 class=&quot;field-label&quot;&gt;Image&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://propelict.com/files/imagecache/articleimage_thumb/files/934_808.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;934_808.jpg&quot; title=&quot;934_808.jpg&quot;  /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field field-type-text field-field-news-image-caption&quot;&gt;&lt;h3 class=&quot;field-label&quot;&gt;Image Caption&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item&quot;&gt;Pictured, from left to right are: TME Chair Linda Bulmer, Marcel LeBrun (Judge), Nancy Mathis (Judge), Jake Arsenault (Judge), Laura Malone and Jane Simmons (2nd  place winners), Samir Kadhim (1st place winner), Anmol Bansal (3rd  place), and Michael Arbow (Judge).&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field field-type-text field-field-news-body&quot;&gt;&lt;h3 class=&quot;field-label&quot;&gt;Body&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item&quot;&gt;&lt;div align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;As we prepare to wrap up another academic year, the winter over and spring is emerging all around as we prepare for graduation!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Here is a link for the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.unb.ca/jhsc/news_events/newsletter/Apr2009.htm&quot;&gt;April issue of the TME Times newsletter&lt;/a&gt; for your reading pleasure!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Some highlights…
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Technology Innovation Pitch (TIP) 2009 Winners&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;TME Student Enters the Dragon’s Den on CBC&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;TME 3423 Prerequisite Change&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Adios to our NAREN Exchange Students from Mexico&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;And … much more!&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
 <comments>http://propelict.com/node/1717#comment</comments>
 <category domain="http://propelict.com/taxonomy/term/94">propel Accelerator</category>
 <category domain="http://propelict.com/taxonomy/term/96">propel Talent</category>
 <category domain="http://propelict.com/taxonomy/term/232">Ecosystem Development</category>
 <category domain="http://propelict.com/taxonomy/term/114">Education</category>
 <category domain="http://propelict.com/taxonomy/term/100">Entrepreneurship</category>
 <pubDate>Tue, 05 May 2009 18:09:17 -0300</pubDate>
 <dc:creator>Jeff Roach</dc:creator>
 <guid isPermaLink="false">1717 at http://propelict.com</guid>
</item>
<item>
 <title>Report for propel ICT Shows Great Opportunity and Spurs New Talent Survey for the Sector</title>
 <link>http://propelict.com/node/1708</link>
 <description>&lt;div class=&quot;field field-type-text field-field-news-author&quot;&gt;&lt;h3 class=&quot;field-label&quot;&gt;Author&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item&quot;&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field field-type-text field-field-news-source&quot;&gt;&lt;h3 class=&quot;field-label&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item&quot;&gt;propel ICT&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field field-type-text field-field-news-reference&quot;&gt;&lt;h3 class=&quot;field-label&quot;&gt;Source Url&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item&quot;&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field field-type-image field-field-news-image&quot;&gt;&lt;h3 class=&quot;field-label&quot;&gt;Image&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://propelict.com/files/imagecache/articleimage_thumb/files/621_125.png&quot; alt=&quot;621_125.png&quot; title=&quot;621_125.png&quot;  /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field field-type-text field-field-news-image-caption&quot;&gt;&lt;h3 class=&quot;field-label&quot;&gt;Image Caption&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item&quot;&gt;A Statistical Profile of the New Brunswick Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Industry&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field field-type-text field-field-news-body&quot;&gt;&lt;h3 class=&quot;field-label&quot;&gt;Body&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item&quot;&gt;&lt;div align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;New Brunswick, May 4, 2009 – A new report of the statistical profile of New Brunswick&amp;#39;s ICT sector prepared for &lt;em&gt;propel ICT&lt;/em&gt; and released today shows great opportunity for the province&amp;#39;s sector as well as revealing data that much more work needs to be done to capitalize on it.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;“The Survey shows that, in addition to capital, skill-specific talent for the ICT sector is required to take advantage of the opportunities we have” said Anita Punamiya, &lt;em&gt;propel ICT &lt;/em&gt;Director and Chair of &lt;em&gt;propel Talent&lt;/em&gt;. “This is an industry in dire need of a strategy that includes a priority on recruiting and training the talent pool that is currently lacking in our province.”&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Among other details, the report shows:
&lt;ol&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;New Brunswick is the only province to register a decline in the number of ICT firms BUT New Brunswick&amp;#39;s ICT sector is still growing at double the rate of the rest of our economy&lt;/strong&gt;, showing a great opportunity that we are not taking advantage of.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;No single community in the province is leading the others in growth of their ICT sector&lt;/strong&gt;. The profile shows Fredericton, Saint John, and Moncton are very comparable to each other in terms of opportunity and current size and strength of the sector, highlighting the need for the communities to work together to build a provincial industry.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The average ICT company in NB is larger than the average ICT company in other parts of the country&lt;/strong&gt;, which indicates that support is missing for building a nimble, entrepreneurial culture of small innovative companies that feed the sector and support the larger emerging components of the sector.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ol&gt;
&lt;p&gt;“Start-up companies in the ICT sector need capital and people” said Jeff Roach, Executive Director of the &lt;em&gt;propel Accelerator&lt;/em&gt;. “This is a people-driven economy and both large and small businesses need the right talent mix to grow their businesses.”&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Jeff Reid, organizer of &lt;em&gt;propel Talent&lt;/em&gt; and xwave Operations Manager for Saint John believes that the need for more people in our sector is one area where the industry is in full agreement. “&lt;em&gt;propel Talent&lt;/em&gt; is a very actively supported initiative from across the province because we all agree that finding the right people for our sector is challenging and will likely get worse if we don&amp;#39;t address it immediately” says Reid. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Starting this week, &lt;em&gt;propel Talent&lt;/em&gt; is re-distributing a survey to New Brunswick ICT companies that it originally reported on in late 2006 that showed a great demand for people in the sector. “We expect, based on the anecdotal reports that we are already receiving, that, despite the recession, our industry is still growing. This survey and the report that will follow should make this a bit more tangible for us.” says Reid.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;About &lt;em&gt;propel ICT&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;propel ICT&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;a href=&quot;http://propelICT.com&quot;&gt;http://propelICT.com&lt;/a&gt;) is a private, non-profit, Information and Communications Technology (ICT) organization focused on growing the ICT industry in New Brunswick&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;About &lt;em&gt;propel Talent&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The &lt;em&gt;propel Talent&lt;/em&gt; initiative of &lt;em&gt;propel ICT&lt;/em&gt; is an active committee of professionals from the ICT and education sectors focused on growing, attracting and retaining talent within the ICT sector of New Brunswick through an integrated workforce solution addressing: Attracting new students, Immigration for internationally-educated professionals, and Repatriation.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;About &lt;em&gt;propel Accelerator&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The &lt;em&gt;propel Accelerator&lt;/em&gt; is a support program that gives New Brunswick start-up ICT companies guidance and mentoring, access to low-cost resources such as equipment, office space, communications and support services, and, most importantly, membership in a business network that can be used to build partnerships or find new markets.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Media Inquires: &lt;br /&gt;Jeff Roach – 506-642-9029 &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;div align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;- end -&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
 <comments>http://propelict.com/node/1708#comment</comments>
 <category domain="http://propelict.com/taxonomy/term/92">Media Release</category>
 <category domain="http://propelict.com/taxonomy/term/94">propel Accelerator</category>
 <category domain="http://propelict.com/taxonomy/term/96">propel Talent</category>
 <category domain="http://propelict.com/taxonomy/term/232">Ecosystem Development</category>
 <category domain="http://propelict.com/taxonomy/term/114">Education</category>
 <category domain="http://propelict.com/taxonomy/term/100">Entrepreneurship</category>
 <category domain="http://propelict.com/taxonomy/term/120">ICT Industry News</category>
 <category domain="http://propelict.com/taxonomy/term/97">Startups</category>
 <enclosure url="http://propelict.com/files/09-05-04-New-Brunswick-ICT-Statistical-Profile.pdf" length="1618076" type="application/pdf" />
 <pubDate>Mon, 04 May 2009 17:00:30 -0300</pubDate>
 <dc:creator>Jeff Roach</dc:creator>
 <guid isPermaLink="false">1708 at http://propelict.com</guid>
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<item>
 <title>&#039;54 Hours&#039; StartUp Weekend Announced</title>
 <link>http://propelict.com/node/1683</link>
 <description>&lt;div class=&quot;field field-type-text field-field-news-author&quot;&gt;&lt;h3 class=&quot;field-label&quot;&gt;Author&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item&quot;&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field field-type-text field-field-news-source&quot;&gt;&lt;h3 class=&quot;field-label&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item&quot;&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field field-type-text field-field-news-reference&quot;&gt;&lt;h3 class=&quot;field-label&quot;&gt;Source Url&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item&quot;&gt;http://www.54Hours.com&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field field-type-image field-field-news-image&quot;&gt;&lt;h3 class=&quot;field-label&quot;&gt;Image&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://propelict.com/files/imagecache/articleimage_thumb/files/214_214.png&quot; alt=&quot;214_214.png&quot; title=&quot;214_214.png&quot;  /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field field-type-text field-field-news-image-caption&quot;&gt;&lt;h3 class=&quot;field-label&quot;&gt;Image Caption&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item&quot;&gt;54 Hours&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field field-type-text field-field-news-body&quot;&gt;&lt;h3 class=&quot;field-label&quot;&gt;Body&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item&quot;&gt;&lt;div align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Saint John, NB, April 25, 2009&lt;/strong&gt; -  On May 8th, 9th, and 10th developers, designers and entrepreneurs from around the province will gather together for a community building startup event in uptown Saint John at the Delta Brunswick Hotel.   Similar to other startup weekends that have been held in cities across North America, the 54Hours event seeks to take business ideas from concept to launch in just one weekend.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Participants begin by Sharing idea pitches beginning on Friday evening and will then divide into teams to work on bringing the ideas to market by the following Monday morning.  “The entire weekend is meant to be a fun way for members of the ICT and business community to interact and network with one another at a deeper level than is generally possible at a traditional industry event,” says Michael Wilcott, an ICT project manager based in Saint John who is one of the organizers.  “54 Hours will be a lot of fun, and will hopefully result in the creation of several web-based enterprises that will enrich New Brunswick&amp;#39;s ICT environment”.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;There is no cost to attend the event and the only requirement is a little skill, a positive attitude and a willingness to roll with the punches.  The atmosphere is meant to be fun and the entire process organic.  “We’ve adopted the slogan &amp;#39;No Talk. All Action.&amp;#39; for the event and we are intentionally keeping the agenda loosely defined.  We want to the weekend to be like the early days of a startup, where creativity and frenetic energy are the norm and there aren’t a lot of rules”, says Wilcott.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;So what happens when the weekend is over?  Above all, it is hoped that a strong community bond will form but beyond that, it depends on the group. Some groups work beyond the weekend and continue to build and market their products; some may incorporate as companies and even engage in angel rounds. Issues like ownership and shares are determined by the members of a team over the course of the weekend and 54Hours will not retain any ownership of any company that might be formed over the course of the event.&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div align=&quot;left&quot;&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&amp;quot;We strongly support these grassroots, creative activities that help people visualize what their ideas might look like in the shape of a business.&amp;quot; says Jeff Roach of &lt;em&gt;propel ICT&lt;/em&gt;. &amp;quot;There are plenty of good ideas but few people give their ideas legs. We are as interested as everyone else to see what might come from this weekend.&amp;quot; &lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div align=&quot;left&quot;&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;To participate in this fun, unique networking event, please visit &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.54Hours.com&quot;&gt;www.54Hours.com&lt;/a&gt; and sign up for this free event!&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div align=&quot;left&quot;&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div align=&quot;center&quot;&gt; -end-&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div align=&quot;left&quot;&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Media Contact&lt;/strong&gt;: Michael Wilcott, (506) 647-3269 &lt;/div&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
 <comments>http://propelict.com/node/1683#comment</comments>
 <category domain="http://propelict.com/taxonomy/term/92">Media Release</category>
 <category domain="http://propelict.com/taxonomy/term/94">propel Accelerator</category>
 <category domain="http://propelict.com/taxonomy/term/232">Ecosystem Development</category>
 <category domain="http://propelict.com/taxonomy/term/100">Entrepreneurship</category>
 <category domain="http://propelict.com/taxonomy/term/120">ICT Industry News</category>
 <category domain="http://propelict.com/taxonomy/term/102">ICT Social Network</category>
 <category domain="http://propelict.com/taxonomy/term/119">Innovation</category>
 <category domain="http://propelict.com/taxonomy/term/97">Startups</category>
 <pubDate>Sat, 25 Apr 2009 10:15:28 -0300</pubDate>
 <dc:creator>Jeff Roach</dc:creator>
 <guid isPermaLink="false">1683 at http://propelict.com</guid>
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 <title>Business Exchange newsletter March/April</title>
 <link>http://propelict.com/node/1631</link>
 <description>&lt;div class=&quot;field field-type-text field-field-news-author&quot;&gt;&lt;h3 class=&quot;field-label&quot;&gt;Author&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item&quot;&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field field-type-text field-field-news-source&quot;&gt;&lt;h3 class=&quot;field-label&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item&quot;&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field field-type-text field-field-news-reference&quot;&gt;&lt;h3 class=&quot;field-label&quot;&gt;Source Url&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item&quot;&gt;http://www.gnb.ca/0398/business/newsletter/index-e.asp&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field field-type-image field-field-news-image&quot;&gt;&lt;h3 class=&quot;field-label&quot;&gt;Image&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://propelict.com/files/imagecache/articleimage_thumb&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; title=&quot;&quot;  /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field field-type-text field-field-news-image-caption&quot;&gt;&lt;h3 class=&quot;field-label&quot;&gt;Image Caption&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item&quot;&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field field-type-text field-field-news-body&quot;&gt;&lt;h3 class=&quot;field-label&quot;&gt;Body&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Business Exchange&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The March/April edition of the Business Exchange newsletter is online and can be found &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.gnb.ca/0398/business/newsletter/index-e.asp&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The Business Exchange is Business New Brunswick&#039;s Newsletter for NB Industry. The newsletter requires Adobe Acrobat in order to view it and you can sign up to have the newsletter delivered by e-mail at the URL above.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
 <comments>http://propelict.com/node/1631#comment</comments>
 <category domain="http://propelict.com/taxonomy/term/232">Ecosystem Development</category>
 <category domain="http://propelict.com/taxonomy/term/100">Entrepreneurship</category>
 <pubDate>Mon, 30 Mar 2009 20:40:53 -0300</pubDate>
 <dc:creator>Rowser</dc:creator>
 <guid isPermaLink="false">1631 at http://propelict.com</guid>
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 <title>Stimulus - Creating Cash Flow in a Recession</title>
 <link>http://propelict.com/node/1622</link>
 <description>&lt;div class=&quot;field field-type-text field-field-news-author&quot;&gt;&lt;h3 class=&quot;field-label&quot;&gt;Author&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item&quot;&gt;Rizwan Kheraj&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field field-type-text field-field-news-source&quot;&gt;&lt;h3 class=&quot;field-label&quot;&gt;Source&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item&quot;&gt;Bootup Labs Blog&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field field-type-text field-field-news-reference&quot;&gt;&lt;h3 class=&quot;field-label&quot;&gt;Source Url&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item&quot;&gt;http://blog.bootuplabs.com/2009/03/12/stimulus-creating-cash-flow-in-a-recession-by-riz/&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field field-type-image field-field-news-image&quot;&gt;&lt;h3 class=&quot;field-label&quot;&gt;Image&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://propelict.com/files/imagecache/articleimage_thumb/files/685_643.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;685_643.jpg&quot; title=&quot;685_643.jpg&quot;  /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field field-type-text field-field-news-image-caption&quot;&gt;&lt;h3 class=&quot;field-label&quot;&gt;Image Caption&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item&quot;&gt;Rizwan Kheraj, Industrial Technology Advisor at NRC-IRAP, Vancouver&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field field-type-text field-field-news-body&quot;&gt;&lt;h3 class=&quot;field-label&quot;&gt;Body&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;The Government of Canada has increased their support of NRC&#039;s &lt;a href=&quot;http://irap-pari.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/&quot;&gt;IRAP Program&lt;/a&gt;. For more information, view presentation slides below:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;div style=&quot;width:425px;text-align:left&quot; id=&quot;__ss_1138966&quot;&gt;&lt;a style=&quot;font:14px Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif;display:block;margin:12px 0 3px 0;text-decoration:underline;&quot; href=&quot;http://www.slideshare.net/dannyrobinson/rizs-irap-slides?type=powerpoint&quot; title=&quot;Riz&amp;#39;s IRAP Slides&quot;&gt;Riz&amp;#39;s IRAP Slides&lt;/a&gt;&lt;object style=&quot;margin:0px&quot; width=&quot;425&quot; height=&quot;355&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;param name=&quot;movie&quot; value=&quot;http://static.slidesharecdn.com/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=stimulus2-090312191334-phpapp01&amp;amp;stripped_title=rizs-irap-slides&quot; /&gt;
&lt;param name=&quot;allowFullScreen&quot; value=&quot;true&quot;/&gt;
&lt;param name=&quot;allowScriptAccess&quot; value=&quot;always&quot;/&gt;&lt;embed src=&quot;http://static.slidesharecdn.com/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=stimulus2-090312191334-phpapp01&amp;amp;stripped_title=rizs-irap-slides&quot; type=&quot;application/x-shockwave-flash&quot; allowscriptaccess=&quot;always&quot; allowfullscreen=&quot;true&quot; width=&quot;425&quot; height=&quot;355&quot;&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;div style=&quot;font-size:11px;font-family:tahoma,arial;height:26px;padding-top:2px;&quot;&gt;View more &lt;a style=&quot;text-decoration:underline;&quot; href=&quot;http://www.slideshare.net/&quot;&gt;presentations&lt;/a&gt; from &lt;a style=&quot;text-decoration:underline;&quot; href=&quot;http://www.slideshare.net/dannyrobinson&quot;&gt;dannyrobinson&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
 <comments>http://propelict.com/node/1622#comment</comments>
 <category domain="http://propelict.com/taxonomy/term/94">propel Accelerator</category>
 <category domain="http://propelict.com/taxonomy/term/98">Capital/Investment</category>
 <category domain="http://propelict.com/taxonomy/term/232">Ecosystem Development</category>
 <category domain="http://propelict.com/taxonomy/term/100">Entrepreneurship</category>
 <category domain="http://propelict.com/taxonomy/term/120">ICT Industry News</category>
 <category domain="http://propelict.com/taxonomy/term/119">Innovation</category>
 <category domain="http://propelict.com/taxonomy/term/97">Startups</category>
 <pubDate>Thu, 26 Mar 2009 23:21:19 -0300</pubDate>
 <dc:creator>Jeff Roach</dc:creator>
 <guid isPermaLink="false">1622 at http://propelict.com</guid>
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