FEDDEV ONTARIO’S FOCUS ON ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
DECEMBER 2019
In this issue 
DECEMBER 2019
ISSUES ARCHIVE
-
Making Headlines
- New Minister to oversee regional development agencies
- FedDev Ontario supports economic advancement across the region
- FedDev Ontario Participates in the Best Defence Conference
- The Forge at McMaster celebrates its grand re-opening
- The future is closer than we think
- Showcasing pivotal projects—read our latest stories!
Making Headlines
The Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages, met with local MPs and industry leaders at Communitech to hear firsthand about our region’s strengths, challenges, needs and opportunities.
New Minister to oversee regional development agencies
On November 20, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced members of the new Cabinet, naming the Honourable Mélanie Joly as Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages. Previously Minister of Canadian Heritage, and most recently Minister of Tourism, Official Languages and La Francophonie, Minister Joly has served to promote Canadian culture and tourism and has been a staunch supporter of the country’s two official languages. On December 2, Minister Joly made her first official visit to the region. She visited the Waterloo office to meet staff and learn about the day-to-day work of the Agency, then hosted a roundtable with more than 20 stakeholders from across the region at Communitech. FedDev Ontario looks forward to working with Minister Joly to continue to foster economic growth across southern Ontario.
The City of Toronto’s Indigenous Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship was one of FedDev Ontario’s pivotal fall funding announcements.
FedDev Ontario supports economic advancement across the region
September was another busy month for FedDev Ontario as funding announcements focused on a variety of urban and rural initiatives from several different sectors. From Windsor to Ottawa, the types of projects we support demonstrate the Agency’s commitment to advance and diversify the southern Ontario economy.
-
Supporting the WindsorEssex Economic Development Corporation to develop an automobility cluster.
-
Niagara College, Brock University and the City of Niagara Falls drive economic growth and innovation in the Niagara region.
-
The City of Toronto’s Indigenous Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (ICIE).
-
BioConnect advances identity verification solutions worldwide.
-
Supporting E. Hofmann Plastics Inc.’s clean growth manufacturing.
-
La Fondation franco-ontarienne (FFO) establishes a new micro-loan pool for Francophone women entrepreneurs.
-
AMI Attachments Inc. and Tri-Mach Group Inc. scale up to meet growing market demands.
To see all of our recent news releases, visit our Media Room.
Making important connections! Robyn Hori and Craig McClelland are members of the Industrial and Technological Benefits team and were part of FedDev Ontario’s presence at the conference.
FedDev Ontario Participates in the Best Defence Conference
From November 5-6, FedDev Ontario representatives participated in the annual Best Defence Conference in London, Ontario. The annual conference is a great opportunity to showcase Canadian defence procurement and supply chain opportunities, and support businesses to develop partnerships and enter the market. FedDev Ontario organized one-on-one meetings for both Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Aerospace Canada and General Dynamics Land Systems – Canada with southern Ontario stakeholders. The Agency also hosted a speed mentoring event with Women in Defence and Security (WiDS), giving regional members the opportunity to connect with leaders in Canada’s defence and security industries.
The Forge is a “made-in-Hamilton” solution for building the local economy and community.
The Forge at McMaster celebrates its grand re-opening
On November 6, McMaster University celebrated the grand re-opening of its start-up incubator and accelerator, The Forge, revealing its new shared open concept office and workspace. With FedDev Ontario funding of $1.2 million, McMaster has expanded The Forge into a retrofitted 10,000-square-foot parking garage-turned-makerspace at McMaster Innovation Park. The expansion is allowing The Forge to provide business services, plus ready access to mentors and investors, to more than 40 local entrepreneurs and companies each year—double the capacity from its launch in 2014. Since inception, 133 start-up companies have graduated from The Forge with more than 500 employees hired and $26 million of private and public investment raised—a positive ripple effect for the Hamilton area.
Cyberworks Robotics is a ventureLAB tenant that is leading a new wave of innovations in autonomous navigation, both in guidance systems with low-cost high-resolution 3D machine vision and in AI-based path planning.
The future is closer than we think
On November 7, ventureLAB hosted the second annual Made in York Region: The Future of Tech event in Markham. The event, which drew more than 350 attendees, highlighted just a few of the many innovative products, technologies and solutions being created in York Region—Canada’s second-largest tech cluster. New this year, the event introduced a guided ecosystem bus tour to two top tech companies in York Region, as well as a pitch competition with nine semi-finalists, five of which were selected to pitch to the live audience. The runner-up, SmartONE Solutions, received $5,000 of in-kind services from Bereskin & Parr, and the pitch competition winner, TROES, was awarded $10,000. Read the full recap.
We are proud to share some of the game-changing projects—like the Quantum Valley Ideas Lab—that we are supporting to drive innovation and growth in the region.
Showcasing pivotal projects—read our latest stories!
Since 2009, FedDev Ontario has invested over $2 billion in southern Ontario’s economy, creating partnerships with over 19,500 organizations. The results of these investments and partnerships can be seen in southern Ontario businesses that are creating innovative technologies, improving their productivity, growing their revenues, and in the economic advancement of southern Ontario communities. We encourage you to visit our updated Success in southern Ontario webpage, which features 10 new pivotal project profiles that showcase the impact of FedDev Ontario funding in southern Ontario.
Project News & Updates
ThoughtWire turns 10 and launches new Smart Cities project
ThoughtWire is on a mission to bring the built environment to life.
ThoughtWire turns 10 and launches new Smart Cities project
Despite being told their idea would “never work,” the founders of ThoughtWire recently celebrated 10 years on the job, proving that perseverance pays off. During the early years, FedDev Ontario helped the company develop its innovative technology platform that creates a real-time model of people, process and connected devices for built environments like hospitals and commercial buildings. Today, ThoughtWire calls this core capability of the technology its Digital Twin. The company is building on its vision—a world that is healthier, safer and cleaner—by collaborating with six other information and communications technology companies to develop communities that are “safer, more accessible and sustainable.” Focusing on urban ecosystems, the not-for-profit network—Innovate Cities—is leading the development and deployment of Smart Cities technologies to better communities and the lives of their citizens. Read more about Innovate Cities here!
Congratulations to Canada’s fastest-growing companies
Congratulations to Canada’s fastest-growing companies
Canadian Business recently published 2019’s Growth 500 rankings of Canada’s fastest growing companies. Congratulations to all of the winners—including the following 10 companies that were supported with FedDev Ontario funding!
-
#13 Intellijoint Surgical (Kitchener)
-
#25 Auvik Networks (Waterloo)
-
#46 Martello Technologies (Ottawa)
-
#67 Axonify (Waterloo)
-
#88 iS5 Communications (Mississauga)
-
#164 Magnet Forensics (Waterloo)
-
#186 Pliteq (Vaughan)
-
#197 StickerYou (Toronto)
-
#315 Wordjack Media (Collingwood)
-
#433 Scribendi (Toronto)
StackAdapt among top start-ups in Canada
StackAdapt is 150+ strong and still growing!
StackAdapt among top start-ups in Canada
StackAdapt is a disrupter. The digital advertising company uses data science and machine learning to connect customers with the products and brands they trust. Its state-of-the-art systems process huge amounts of data to interpret online behaviour and deliberately place content ads when people are ready to buy. FedDev Ontario supported StackAdapt during its infancy, providing for sales team and software development. Today, the company is recognized as one of LinkedIn’s top start-ups in Canada, ranking #17 on the list, as well as #69 on the inaugural Globe and Mail Report on Business ranking of Canada’s Top Growing Companies and #21 on the latest Deloitte Technology Fast 50TM program.
Waterloo’s Accelerator Centre among world’s top five
Accelerator Centre CEO Dr. Paul Salvini (left) accepting World Top Five award from Holger Meyer, director of research at UBI Global.
Waterloo’s Accelerator Centre among world’s top five
The Accelerator Centre received high praise at the recent World Incubation Summit 2019 in Doha, Qatar. Of the 1,580 accelerators and incubators in more than 70 countries that participated in the comprehensive study, the Waterloo-based organization was recognized as one of the top five private business accelerators in the world. UBI Global, a Stockholm-based intelligence company, prepared the list based on exceptional value for client start-ups and local ecosystems and the overall ability to nurture entrepreneurship and innovation. Ranked #1 in Canada, the Accelerator Centre received early funding from FedDev Ontario for its AC JumpStart program, providing start-ups with seed capital and a year of focused business programming and support. FedDev Ontario congratulates the Accelerator Centre on its accomplishment.
LinkedIn Highlights
A Business Development Bank of Canada study says the number of women entrepreneurs is on the rise. Female-led businesses now make up 28 percent of Canada’s entrepreneurial landscape, outpacing the country’s growth in male entrepreneurs by 3.1 times since 1976. On November 19, the world celebrated Women’s Entrepreneurship Day.
Calling all applicants! The Ontario Bioscience Innovation Organization (OBIO) is accepting applications for its 2020 Capital Access Advisory Program. Health science companies have until December 18 to submit a pitch for funding to help advance the development and commercialization of innovative products and services. OBIO received funding from FedDev Ontario to provide grants to eligible businesses.
The Vineland Research and Innovation Centre released its 2019-20 report to showcase how Canada’s horticultural industry is advancing. Read about new technologies for improving food and flower crops and pest control management, as well applying artificial intelligence for smarter irrigations systems. FedDev Ontario has proudly supported Vineland since 2010.
Linda Cousineau, FedDev Ontario’s Director General of Business Innovation and Community Development, was one of 50 public servants to receive the Excellence and Leadership in Official Languages Award for her role leading the delivery of the Economic Development Initiative, supporting sustainable growth in official language minority communities. We salute Linda’s commitment to second official language skills and her ongoing work with southern Ontario’s Official Language minority communities.
Upcoming Events
December 11
AltFi Toronto Summit 2019 (Toronto)
January 20
CanadianSME Business Expo (Toronto)
February 4-6
EDCO Conference 2020 (Toronto)
SIGN UP FOR REGULAR ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT UPDATES IN YOUR INBOX
Links to websites not under the control of the Government of Canada are provided solely for the convenience of users.
The Government of Canada is not responsible for the accuracy, currency, language or the reliability of the content nor does it endorse the sites.