Spending a few days last month in Moncton, N.B., I was struck by the focus on growth as stimulated by technology. Moncton has great geographic assets to position it as a transportation and distribution hub, but there is an added dimension that is emerging to make the Greater Moncton area a much more interesting place to do business.

And it’s not just technology that is driving growth; there is an exciting mélange of entrepreneurship, culture, confidence, multilingualism, technology, and global perspective.

L’Université de Moncton (UdeM) has blossomed over the past few years under the visionary leadership of president Yvon Fontaine. The university is educating thousands of French speaking students in the sciences, arts, business, law, and since mid-September, medicine.

The Centre de formation médicale du Nouveau-Brunswick is doing more than simply producing French-speaking doctors. It is creating a training environment that will influence where and how the students pursue their careers.

In a technology-driven program, the students are studying L’Université de Sherbrooke (UdeS) medical school’s curriculum, connected with their tutors in Moncton and professors in Sherbrooke and Chicoutimi. But this is so much more than a distance medical school.

First, the students are considered UdeS students and therefore pay Quebec student tuitions — the most subsidized in the country. Medical training is now available in Moncton at the lowest tuition fees in the country.

Secondly, the graduating doctors are

more likely to stay, practice, and build their families in New Brunswick. As such, the UdeM/UdeS medical school in Moncton will have a long-term effect on increased research activity at UdeM and UNB/Mount A; it will produce more highly qualified, bilingual health professionals throughout the region, and more bilingual (French mother tongue) practitioners, teaching doctors, and researchers will be attracted to Moncton and New Brunswick.

All of this will have an effect on the social fabric of the area, the confidence of the people, and the prosperity of the whole Atlantic region.

The medical school is an exciting new development and one you should observe closely for opportunity if nothing else. But other organizations throughout the city are just as exciting, interesting, and informative.

During a one day visit I met with Medavie Blue Cross, the Atlantic Cancer Research Institute, OAO Technology Solutions, Spielo, Moncton Hospital, the City of Moncton, Université de Moncton, and the Centre de formation médicale. In every case, technology with a focus on people, culture, and global opportunity is the driving force behind aggressive growth plans. In many cases francophones were either completely in charge or exercising significant influence.

The greatest asset any business has is a well-trained, motivated, technology- aided workforce. One of the greatest emerging assets of the Atlantica region is the energetic, entrepreneurial francophone community.

Moncton has both in spades. Smart non-francophone business operators might want to start looking for global partners—right here at home.