News Release

Office of the Premier

Provincial government partners with private sector to create digital lab

01 October 2015

FREDERICTON (GNB) – The provincial government is partnering with TechImpact to work towards making New Brunswick the first truly digital government in North America.

The partnership will create a digital hub for public services in the province and will help transform the way people access government information by using technology to deliver services that put the user first and give them the smartest and most cost-effective service possible.

“This is an opportunity for us to attract technical experts and companies to New Brunswick, create jobs and develop highly-secure services for global markets,” said Premier Brian Gallant, who is also minister responsible for innovation. “As we attract new types of jobs to New Brunswick, like the 1,000 jobs recently announced in partnership with BMM, we want to become a truly digital province.”

The provincial government and the private sector will partner on a digital lab project which will develop a common vision for a secure and open digital future for New Brunswick, launch an open data initiative and create a digital service accelerator. Developing digital services and increasing the government’s capacity in the digital space is expected to save taxpayers, businesses and the public millions of dollars over the next decade and is part of the government’s plan to address fiscal challenges and foster economic growth.

“We are excited to partner with the government and with the many supporters in our business community who would like to see New Brunswick become home to world-class innovation,” said Ed McGinley, CEO of TechImpact. “The digital space presents tremendous opportunities for government to transform how it interacts with New Brunswickers and we are pleased to be leading this initiative with our Government of New Brunswick partners. Our goal is to develop digital solutions that will make every day things better for New Brunswick residents and make our companies the world’s recognized experts in this space.”

The partnership will provide a platform to foster innovation in New Brunswick by bringing together expertise from the public and private sector. The unique nature of this initiative is intended as a catalyst to attract some of the best and brightest in the information communication technology sector to New Brunswick. It is intended to accelerate job growth and investment in the sector while lowering costs for taxpayers.

TechImpact is a collaboration of local technology business leaders. Their mission is to help our region embrace IT literacy and innovation as the cornerstone of our future prosperity.  TechImpact’s strategy has five interrelated pillars: developing our workforce; building businesses; working with government; fostering innovation and celebrating successes.