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Vimsoft and Chinova Bioworks Lead Eight Winners at the 2026 N.B. Export Awards

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Dieppe software maker Vimsoft and Fredericton's Chinova Bioworks were among eight companies honoured at the 58th New Brunswick Export Awards in Saint John, against the backdrop of a $16-billion export year.

A gold trophy on a gala stage opens the 2026 N.B. Export Awards in Saint John; a map of New Brunswick pins the winners' hometowns, a card shows the $16-billion 2025 export year and the 40 companies that vied, and vignettes show Vimsoft's broadcast control room, Chinova's mushrooms becoming chitosan, Purplefarm's cable-scanned cannabis rows, Sparta's recycling separator, Smet's granite monument and Atlantic Potato's potato crates, before the closing card lists all eight winners.

New Brunswick's exporters had their night in Saint John on Thursday. Opportunities NB and the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) handed out the 58th annual New Brunswick Export Awards, and the eight winners ran from a Dieppe software company to a Perth-Andover potato packer.

The backdrop was a big number: the province recorded over $16 billion in export sales in 2025, according to the release.

"It is more important than ever to recognize our exporting businesses and the impact they have on our economy and communities," said Luke Randall, minister responsible for Opportunities NB.

"This past year was anything but typical for New Brunswick's exporting community," said Traci Simmons, CEO of Opportunities NB. "The ambition and resolve demonstrated by our exporters makes this year's New Brunswick Export Awards reception and gala even more special as we pause to celebrate their successes on the world stage."

The 2026 winners

Winners were selected by a volunteer panel of business experts from academia and the private sector. Forty companies were vying for awards this year, according to TechImpact, one of the gala's sponsors.

  • Woman in Export Excellence: Vimsoft
  • Productivity Impact: Atlantic Potato Distributors
  • Exporter of the Year (over $5 million in export sales): Sparta Manufacturing
  • Exporter of the Year (under $5 million in export sales): Smet Monuments
  • Global Diversification: Purplefarm Genetics
  • Innovative Exporter of the Year (under $10 million in export sales): Chinova Bioworks
  • Emerging Exporter of the Year: Everest Group
  • Sustainable Exporter of the Year: ECO Technologies

Software, science and cannabis

Vimsoft, based in Dieppe, took Woman in Export Excellence. Its product, VimBiz, is broadcast resource management software: it manages the workflows involving people, equipment and facilities at medium and large broadcasting and media companies, covering scheduling, asset management and service management. The company's chief operating officer, Laurence Paradis Bolduc, was among the winners photographed at the gala.

Chinova Bioworks of Fredericton won Innovative Exporter of the Year. The company makes clean-label food preservatives from mushroom chitosan. NB Tech News has covered the company before: its mushroom-derived preservative and its place on the CFIN 2026 Foodtech Frontier list.

Purplefarm Genetics, a Fredericton craft cannabis producer, won Global Diversification. At its 86,000 sq. ft. Fredericton facility, an autonomous robotic scanner from Neatleaf rides a cable system over the crop, generating data on plant height, health and pests in 24-hour cycles; the company says the oversight has lifted yields and tightened its risk management.

Makers, monuments and potatoes

Sparta Manufacturing of Notre-Dame was named Exporter of the Year in the over-$5-million class. Sparta designs and builds turnkey recycling systems - screening, separation and conveying equipment - and already exports across most of North America. Its Olympus ballistic separator, developed with support from the National Research Council's IRAP program, was first installed at Eco360 in Moncton.

Smet Monuments, the St. Stephen family business making granite memorials for more than 75 years, took Exporter of the Year in the under-$5-million class. It sells across Atlantic Canada, New England and Bermuda, and came through TechImpact's Digital Boost program, where it worked on cybersecurity, data management and an AI assessment.

Atlantic Potato Distributors won Productivity Impact. The family-owned Perth-Andover company was founded in 1993 by Ralph and Nancy Hanscome, packs and distributes potatoes year-round under president Mark Hanscome, and has spent six years investing in innovation and automation. It grows about 20 percent of its own supply and audits the growers who supply the rest.

Emerging Exporter of the Year went to the Everest Group of companies, listed by ONB as EC, XM & EP and counted among TechImpact's members in the program. Sustainable Exporter of the Year went to ECO Technologies, the ASDR Canada division whose crews combine some 20 years of hydraulic and mechanical dredging, dewatering and water-treatment work; the Conseil économique du Nouveau-Brunswick named it Business of the Year in 2025.

"Congratulations to this year's winners and nominees on this well-deserved recognition," said Wayne Long, secretary of state for the Canada Revenue Agency and Financial Institutions, speaking on behalf of Sean Fraser, the minister responsible for ACOA. "Your leadership and success in export markets are an inspiration and a testament to the world-class capabilities found across New Brunswick."

The full list of 2026 nominees and winners is on the ONB Export Awards page.

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