About

What is Spark West Network?

Spark West Network is an umbrella marketing platform that draws together, assists, and coordinates the various organizations, events, and people that define our region’s unique entrepreneurial opportunities. The Spark West website aims to act as a platform for hosting the unique events and opportunities that make up western Nova Scotia’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Our Vision

Our vision is to create a unified voice for entrepreneurship in the rural areas of western Nova Scotia. We want to make our region a friendlier place for entrepreneurs to connect with each other, get advice, become noticed, and build up their businesses and skill sets.

FAQ

Why should this initiative be focused on a small rural area like the Annapolis Valley?

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.

Should we not just promote our region’s activities under the Halifax Startup Digest?

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.

Where do you draw your inspiration from?

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.

Have More Questions?

SWN, For the communtiy

Spark West Network is built with Nuxt.js and Firebase and is proud to be an open source project. Learn more or become a contributer at github.com/michaelcaplan/sparkwest-network

Spark West Network

An umbrella marketing platform that draws together, assists, and coordinates the various organizations, events, and people that define our region’s unique entrepreneurial opportunities.