This initiative wants to make western rural Nova Scotia innovate, create businesses, and urbanize. We believe there is greater value in engaging the geographic region targeted by the Innovacorp Spark West Innovation Challenge. This includes Lunenburg, Queens, Shelburne, Yarmouth, Digby, Annapolis, Kings, and Hants counties. We all share alike this rural region of Nova Scotia and collaborate across this region regularly, and our collective footprint provides a more meaningful picture.

We should absolutely promote our region’s activities to the wider Nova Scotia startup community. HSD is an excellent way to do this. However, HSD has its own mandate which does not include our rural Nova Scotia ecosystem. It is a rare experience to find content in HSD that pulls from our region. Furthermore, HSD does not have a good vantage point to attempt to adequately represent Western Nova, because it is the big urban centres like Halifax that engage and are rich in innovation, business, entrepreneurship, and such.

Halifax has done a remarkable job drawing people in and sustaining a culture that appeals to entrepreneurs and creative professionals. One initiative we want to draw attention to is the Halifax Startup Digest (HSD), run by John Hamblin.
HSD is a twice-monthly email newsletter and web calendar that aggregates events of interest to this Halifax community. As a cross-organization voice, HSD pulls together a compelling picture of the wide range of activities and organizations that make Halifax the dynamic startup ecosystem that it is. Furthermore, HSD draws from relevant programs being delivered in other urban centres in the Atlantic region, and beyond, to help situate Halifax within a larger context. As a volunteer program run by one individual, it is quite an effective community building initiative.