Small and medium-sized technology companies in Western Canada will be eligible for booster shots from the federal government, which today announced $100 million in interest-free loans over five years to help speed Western Canadian innovations to market.
But tech companies that want to apply for the first round of funding need to act soon. The first intake period starts November 9 and closes December 8.
Michelle Rempel, minister of state for Western Economic Diversification, said the funding will come in the form of repayable interest-free loans.
Many technology companies fail to cross the gulf between the validation of a new technology and getting it to market.
That is especially true in areas like clean technology, as underscored in Redefining Cleantech, a new report released this week by Kachan and Co.
Clean technology has seen a dramatic slump in venture capital investment over the last three years, the report states, making it harder for clean tech companies to bridge the gap between product verification and market penetration.
"We want to make sure our small companies are bridging that gap – the gap being between the development of a product and actually getting it into the market," Rempel said in a teleconference. "We're looking at projects that could come to market within three years."
Rempel said the upper loan size would be $3 million per project, and $7.5 million per recipient.
"So that means a company could apply for more than one project," she said.
Twenty per cent of the funding will be reserved for smaller companies, with loans averaging $250,000. The loans are repayable over five years, with a one-year grace period at the end.
The funding is for companies with fewer than 500 employees. Eligible sectors include health and life sciences, clean technology, energy, aerospace, defence, nanotechnology, and information and communications technology.
The funding covers expenses like research and development, technology purchases, market validation and demonstration projects.
Business that want to apply for funding can do so by visiting Western Diversifaction's website. http://www.wd-deo.gc.ca/eng/home.asp
