FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 
Charlottetown, PEI (Monday, May 7, 2012) – Canada’s entrepreneurial spotlight will shine on Prince Edward Island this week as it plays host to Startup Canada’s National Tour and gathers more than 150 local startups and enterprise support organizations to discuss, celebrate and inspire entrepreneurship across the province. 
 

This is the second stop in Startup Canada’s National Tour, which began in March in Nova Scotia. Between now and September, 2012, the tour will engage 25,000 Canadians and 250 partner organizations to identify actionable proposals and priorities for advancing entrepreneurship in Canada.

 

“The Startup Canada campaign is the signature of a new spirit of entrepreneurship and innovation in Canada,” said Rory Francis, Executive Director of the PEI BioAlliance and Chair of the Startup Canada PEI initiative. “That spirit is also at the core of Prince Edward Island’s Bioscience Cluster’s momentum and growth.”

 

Francis is hosting today’s Town Hall and Launch Event in Charlottetown. Other speakers include Duncan Shaw, Founder & President of Mullache Corporation, and a host of local entrepreneurs and enterprise support organizations. The Honourable Allen F. Roach, PEI Minister of Innovation and Advanced Learning  will also attend and will bring greetings from the Province at the Launch Event on Monday.
 

“Startup Canada is a wonderful event for young, potential entrepreneurs to meet experienced entrepreneurs first hand and hear their stories,” said Shaw. ”To me, entrepreneurship is the only career choice where young people start by hearing all of the gaudy failure statistics. Being an entrepreneur is a fantastic career and an event like Startup Canada is invaluable for young people to realize entrepreneurship is a viable career option.”
 

Rivers Corbett, serial entrepreneur, author and a Startup Canada Board member, has first-hand experience being an East Coast entrepreneur.

 

“I have been an entrepreneur for more than 15 years and up to now there has never been an organization like Startup Canada to help launch and drive the entrepreneurial spirit in our country,” said Corbett.

 

Following its events in PEI, Startup Canada will move to Ontario and New Brunswick before heading west. Along the way, provincial steering committees are helping showcase local entrepreneurs on a national media platform. The movement is also being fuelled online through Startup Canada’s interactive website, live web-streamed broadcasts of the tour, and active social media networks.

 
In addition to being championed by patrons such as Brett Wilson (Host of RiskyBusinessTV, former Dragon & serial entrepreneur), Heather Reisman (Founder, Indigo Books & Music), and Dani Reiss (Founder, Canada Goose), Startup Canada has also received support nationally from a number of ambassadors and industry sponsors Microsoft, Gowlings and Ernst & Young.
 

Local partners include the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, Innovation PEI and the Prince Edward Island BioAlliance, The Greater Charlottetown & Area Chamber of Commerce, the University of Prince Edward Island, PEI Business Women’s Association, PEI Newcomer’s Association, Resources West, the Mi’kmaq Confederacy, the Innovation & Technology Association of PEI, Central Development Corporation, and Junior Achievement.

 

Other sponsors include Microsoft, Gowlings and Ernst and Young, Artik, Kick Ass Media, PubliAir, VideoBooth the Association of University Research Parks Canada, the Canadian Association of Business Incubation, Francis Moran & Associates, FreshBooks, MSBi Valorisation, NextMTL, the Ottawa Technology Transfer Network, University of Ottawa, Podio, Backbone Magazine, HootSuite, ITWorld Canada, Paper.li, Sprouter, and Techvibes.

 

Tomorrow, the Startup Canada team will meet with Charlottetown entrepreneurs, visit local high schools, and speak at the province-wide Youth Entrepreneurship Forum before moving on to Summerside. A full schedule of the week’s events and complete National Tour is posted on the Startup Canada website – www.startupcan.ca/tour

 

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For additional information or to pre-schedule interviews, contact:

 

Victoria Lennox, Co-Founder, Startup Canada

 

 

 
Rose Fitzpatrick, Manager of Communications & Marketing, PEI BioAlliance 
 
About Startup Canada www.startupcan.ca
Startup Canada is Canada’s first-ever, entrepreneur-led, national movement to enhance the nation’s competitiveness and prosperity by supporting and celebrating Canadian entrepreneurship. Startup Canada is harnessing the collective energies of Canadian entrepreneurs and enterprise support communities from Coast to Coast with the goals of providing the entrepreneurship community with a strong voice, promoting a vibrant entrepreneurial culture and creating a unified brand that Canadians can rally around. Startup Canada is launching this effort with the country’s first national entrepreneurship tour and campaign. The tour will run from March to September, engaging 25,000 Canadians and 250 partner organizations across the country. Entrepreneurs will participate in more than 30 Town Halls and 100 Fringe Events and connect through a social media groundswell campaign. This unique effort will not only identify key challenges facing Canadian entrepreneurs, but will bring them together in a way they never have been before. It’s the beginning of a critical conversation and the first step in a new way of thinking. 
 
About PEI BioAlliance www.peibioalliance.com
The Prince Edward Island BioAlliance was incorporated in 2005 to accelerate the growth of PEI’s bioscience sector by building the economy & setting the pace for the next generation prosperity. Since that time, the BioAlliance has coordinated the work of leaders in bioscience business, research and government organizations in PEI, providing strategy, focus, and alignment among the partners. This collaboration has been the driver of bioscience growth to date, and has given the PEI Bioscience Cluster a reputation nationally and internationally. PEI is currently home to 33 bioscience-based companies and eight major research institutions.
 

 

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