While the New Brunswick startup community is growing – leagues ahead of where it was before companies like Radian6 and Q1 Labs put the region on the map for outside investors – unrealized promise remains, industry leaders say.

"There is capital here," said Larry Shaw, CEO of Ignite Fredericton and Knowledge Park.

A draft growth strategy for Fredericton to be released at a public meeting Monday calls for bringing under-used land in the city's core to life.

The presentation by Imagine Fredericton, the name given to the planning process, will showcase highlights of the draft strategy, which could guide the city's development for the next 25 years.

If any exit can demonstrate how the economy benefits when a young company is bought by a larger company, it was IBM’s purchase of Q1 Labs of Fredericton in early 2012.

That purchase, reportedly worth more than $600 million, did more than just reward investors and staff at the cybersecurity company. It has led to hundreds of jobs in cybersecurity R&D in the New Brunswick capital, and made New Brunswick a genuine leader in research in cybersecurity, one of hottest segments of the IT world.

FREDERICTON – A New Brunswick startup is launching its technology across the Atlantic this week at a global business event.

Fredericton-based Turret Psychoanalytics, a company that uses big data and artificial intelligence (AI) to create customer market data and leads for businesses, will be at the CeBit conference and exhibition in Hannover, Germany. CeBit is an international conference for digital business with around 3,000 exhibitors and 2,000 keynote speakers and lecturers. Turret Psychoanalytics is only one of two Canadian companies slated to exhibit.

Here’s one thing to highlight about Atlantic Canadian startups in 2017: they’ll be accelerating their danged faces off.

Accelerators have become a cornerstone of the startup world, and they’re thinking on the ground on Canada’s East Coast. The sheer number of accelerators or incubators is surprising, as is the number of companies they are fostering. And they speak to the startup community’s commitment to helping more and more entrepreneurs find their way to the market.

Felipe Chibante completed his PhD in chemistry in 1992 at Rice University in Houston, Tex. In the years after, Chibante, who was raised in Fredericton, N.B., didn’t tread the traditional academic path. He stayed in Houston and founded two startups that conducted contract research for government, the oil industry and NASA. That research generated a lot of intellectual property, but most of it was shelved and left unexplored.

FREDERICTON –Ignite Fredericton and Planet Hatch, in conjunction with Knowledge Park, have formed a soft landing zone partnership with Walnut Accelerator. The agreement is the first of its kind between an organization in Atlantic Canada and Western China.

Walnut Accelerator is a Chengdu-based incubation/acceleration organization focused on supporting the growth of high-tech companies and innovation. The agreement will enable start-ups and growth stage companies to locate within each other’s respective acceleration spaces, creating a more supportive environment for trade and investment activity. The partnership commits both organizations to make programs, services and preferential rates available to each other’s companies.

The federal, provincial and municipal governments have combined to support a pilot program that will help match immigrant entrepreneurs in New Brunswick with business owners looking to sell.

“Succession Connect” is expected to address two high priority issues: an aging workforce looking to retire, and the need to attract immigrants to the province.

A recently posted video showing aerial footage of Fredericton is attracting a lot of attention for one young entrepreneur.

Michael Stemm recently graduated from university with a degree in business, but the path he’s taking to his career is far from an ordinary one.

SAINT JOHN – Ignite Fredericton has launched Atlantic Canada’s first export accelerator.

Export Igniter is designed to help export ready companies find opportunities, navigate the international business business, and help jump start their export sales. The program is a result of a year of consultation and planning and is being executed in collaboration with University of New Brunswick, Fredericton Chamber of Commerce, Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters and OpportunitiesNB.