The Province of Nova Scotia and the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) have teamed up to provide greater support for Nova Scotia startups in the ocean and clean technology sectors.
Six business acceleration programs will be delivered this fall, including a new Blue Solutions competition to find innovative ways to address problems in the ocean sectors.
Innovacorp will manage the programs, which will provide funding and business guidance.
“Participating in one of Innovacorp’s acceleration programs last year helped us reach important milestones with our technology and business,” said Iaian Archibald, CEO at Swell Advantage. “We were able to identify and fix some key technical and design issues that only became apparent when we tested our marina software with real customers.”
“We’re investing in these programs to build on the tremendous ocean technology and clean technology development happening across Nova Scotia,” said Geoff MacLellan, Minister of Business. “Our investments will help innovators and startups move their projects forward, helping us create opportunities for young Nova Scotians.”
The combined funding of $920,000 from the two governments will support startups through six initiatives:
— Blue Solutions, a competition to find innovative solutions to problems in the ocean sector
— three programs to help ocean technology companies develop their products and business models and demonstrate their prototypes in a real-life setting
— two programs to help clean technology companies address technical and business milestones and move closer to investment readiness.
Of the $920,000, the Government of Canada is providing a $500,000 non-repayable contribution to this initiative under ACOA’s Business Development Program. The province, through Innovacorp, is providing the remaining $420,000.
“This project is going to develop and attract new ocean-based companies into a robust cluster of highly-advanced ocean sector technology firms contributing significant economic growth to the region,” said Halifax MP Andy Fillmore, on behalf of Navdeep Bains, Minister responsible for ACOA. “Innovation and clean growth are pillars of the Atlantic Growth Strategy to grow our economy, create good jobs and improve the quality of life across our region.”
Calls for submissions for the programs will be made throughout September. Details will be available at www.innovacorp.ca.
Source: Release