Introhive's David Alston wins 2 Startup Canada awards

Startup Canada has named David Alston, a technology entrepreneur from Saint John, its entrepreneur of the year.

Alston, from Grand Bay-Westfield,isthe chief marketing officer for the data analytics company,Introhive, and a proponent for entrepreneurship in the region.

He is also co-winner in Startup Canada's enterprise promotion category, along withPeter Moreira,co-founder of Nova Scotia-based Entrevestor.

Introhive is one of five New Brunswick companies to win regional awards.

"I loved being creative and I think, as an entrepreneur, whenever you see something, wheneveryou're doing anything and it's repetitive and you think, gosh, there's got to be a better way of doing something like this that's the idea, you want to always solve problems," Alston said Tuesday onInformation Morning Saint John.

Alstonwas part of a group of New Brunswickers who visited countries, such as Finland and Estonia, in 2013 to study their education systems.

New Brunswick can be the leader in digital government.- David Alston, Introhive

His foreign travels allowed him to see how other countries have incorporated coding into their education systems.

Now, Alston is involved in the digital transformation the New Brunswick government is attempting.

The initiativeinvolves a digital lab that will help engage civil servants in makingthe transition.

"New Brunswick can be the leader in digital government, there's no reason why we can't," he said.

"We know government can be improved in terms of storing information.Instead of having your name and address stored 15 times in 15 departments, it should be stored once and everything should be accessed off that one record.

"So if you change your address, bam, everything is changed. That would make sense," Alston said.

Alston was among the five companies, and six New Brunswick wins, at theStartup Canada regional awards.

• Andrea Feunekes,co-founder and CEO of Fredericton's Remsoftreceivedthe Adam Chowaniec Lifetime Achievement Award.
• Fredericton-based clothing lineWear Your Label received theSustainable Development Award.
• Ignite Frederictonreceived the award for Entrepreneurship Support.
• Moncton'sRtTech Software Inc.took the award for Innovation.

The awards will be handed out on Oct. 14 in Halifax.