Event Organizers hope New Brunswick Innovation Forum will become annual event

B2

DERWIN GOWAN
TELEGRAPH-JOURNAL

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Kevin Gallant of the Miramichi firm Southside Air plans to harness the sun to illuminate remote construction sites.

Marc Savoie of Mariner Partners in Saint John wants to pinpoint problems with television service without making expensive service calls.

Parry Aftab of Wiretrust, another Miramichi firm, wants to make cyberspace safe and secure.

George Butters of Golden Coast in Fredericton believes he can save companies a ton of money by recording conferences and meetings so that delegates do not need to physically attend.

Derek Oland of Moosehead Breweries Ltd. in Saint John wants the labels on his beer bottles straight.

These were the discussions at the first day of the inaugural New Brunswick Innovation Forum 2008. The National Research Council of Canada Institute for Information Technology (NRC-IIT) organized the two-day event in Saint John with the help of other partners.

Panelists got 10 minutes each to pitch their companies, explaining why investors should place their bets on them.

Afterwards the speakers each spent a half-hour at a booth talking with people.

Visitors include Matthias Holzner from Stuttgart, Germany, and Peter Fateling with the European Commission in Brussels. The inspiration for the New Brunswick Innovation Forum came from a similar annual regional event in Germany.

About 150 people registered. "What this does is open the doors to networking and build the relationships," Andrew Reddick with the NRC-IIT in Fredericton said.

Besides the panel presentations, government and industry officials spoke at 15-minute "Fast Track Sessions" on issues such as federal programs and intellectual property.

Nancy Matthis, executive director of the Wallace McCain Institute, chaired an early afternoon panel at which she asked four panelists - successful business people - what sort or technological solutions would interest them.

Oland expressed an interest in some electronic or photographic way to catch crooked labels without someone continually watching the bottling line.

Brian Donovan, executive director of Enterprise Miramichi, offered to put Oland in touch with a firm that developed a system to monitor breaks in paper rolling at high speed.

Gallant came up with his idea for solar-powered lighting several years ago while working in the Alberta oil industry - when he saw companies relying on diesel generators to light street corners on construction camps, paying people to keep them running all night.

Fateling with the European Commission spoke at the banquet Tuesday night.