InnovateNB Renames Its Hall of Fame for Gerry Pond and Opens 2026 Nominations

The province's main tech awards night is back on the calendar — and the honour that started with Gerry Pond now carries his name.

InnovateNB announced on August 19 that its Hall of Fame award is now the Gerry Pond Innovation Hall of Fame Award. The same day, nominations opened for the 2026 public categories. The evening itself is Thursday, November 26 at the Fredericton Convention Centre.

The award he was most proud of

Pond was the inaugural Hall of Fame inductee in 2022, when Mariner launched the honour. InnovateNB's rename note says he was not just the first recipient — he was the reason the award existed. Those close to him told the organizers it was the honour he was most proud of, because it was tied to innovation and to New Brunswick.

He was in the room last November when Marcel LeBrun was inducted, and the crowd of about 450 gave him a standing ovation. Pond died on July 8. The rename is the organizers' way of keeping the prize pointed at the same work: people who build companies and the conditions for the next ones.

"Gerry didn't just build companies, he built an entire innovation community," TechImpact CEO Cathy Simpson said in the announcement. "Renaming this award in his honour is our way of ensuring his belief in this region and its entrepreneurs is never forgotten."

Marc Savoie, co-executive director of East Valley Ventures, put the same idea in founder terms: Pond "never stopped believing that world-class companies could be built right here in Atlantic Canada, and he spent his life proving it."

The Hall of Fame stays a partner selection, not a public vote. It is still presented by Mariner. Earlier inductees include Innovatia's Roxanne Fairweather and Dave Grebenc (2023) and Q1 Labs co-founders Sandy Bird, Chris Newton, and Brian Flood (2024). TechImpact has also kept a living wall of remembrances open for community tributes.

Nine public categories, five weeks to nominate

Everything else on the ballot is open. Nominations run August 19 through September 28. Finalists land before the night; winners are named in Fredericton.

The slate covers the usual provincial mix of product shops, scale-ups, researchers, and public-sector projects:

• Beacon Award for Women in Innovation & Leadership
• Public Sector Transformation
• Innovative Product or Service of the Year
• Emerging Innovator of the Year
• Startup of the Year (under five years)
• Inclusivity & Empowerment
• Scale-up of the Year (over five years)
• Researcher of the Year
• Impact Innovation

That last one is the economic-impact prize — commercialization, jobs, investment, and whether a New Brunswick product moved the province's competitive position. Startup of the Year is the early-stage counterpart.

Same partners, new city

The 2026 show is a Capital Region night. Last year's awards were in Saint John; this year's listing puts the room at the Fredericton Convention Centre, the same venue Ignite is using for its October summit.

The presenting partners are unchanged: TechImpact, NBIF, UNB's McKenna Institute, Propel, and Ignite. Tickets are on sale from the InnovateNB site.

For a desk that already wrote Pond's obituary, this is the follow-up that matters operationally: the awards calendar is live, the Hall of Fame has a permanent name, and the nomination window is open until late September.

Sources

• Honouring Gerry Pond: InnovateNB Hall of Fame Renamed in His Memory — InnovateNB, August 19, 2026: rename, Simpson and Savoie quotes, November standing ovation, tickets
• InnovateNB Awards 2026 homepage — November 26 at the Fredericton Convention Centre; partners; nominations and tickets open
• Award nominations — window August 19–September 28; nine public categories; winners November 26
• Gerry Pond Innovation Hall of Fame Award — presented by Mariner; partner-selected; inductee list
• Remembering Gerry Pond — TechImpact living wall
• Gerry Pond, the 'Codefather' of New Brunswick Tech, Dies at 82 — NB Tech News — July 2026 obituary