Backgrounder – Details of contributions awarded to three Québec City businesses

March 12, 2019 – Québec City, Quebec – Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions (CED)

Lumca, WikiNet and Ondia will be able to complete their projects with the help of a total of $559,000 in contributions from Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions.

The funding is granted under the Quebec Economic Development Program and the
Regional Economic Growth through Innovation program and will help the recipient businesses achieve their set objectives.

Lumca Inc.

Repayable contribution of $400,000 out of a total investment of $1.3M

Established in 1990, Lumca Inc. designs, manufactures and markets urban lighting products. The company uses exclusive technologies combining a variety of materials, lighting types, styles and colours to offer original, cost-effective and energy-efficient products, including “smart” street lights.

The goal of the project is to improve the business’s productivity and roll out its North American marketing strategy. Among other things, CED’s contribution will go toward the purchase of a computerized integrated management system and marketing activities abroad.

The project will create 10 jobs.

WikiNet (9581243 Canada Inc.)

Repayable contribution of $109,000 out of a total investment of $254,040 

WikiNet was founded in 2016 to provide innovative software solutions for the environment sector. It offers niche applications, including a smart management tool for the transportation and management of contaminated soils and an application that uses both a database and artificial intelligence to guide environmental experts in choosing the best site remediation technologies. This artificial intelligence product was one of over 150 projects from 36 countries selected as part of the global IBM Watson AI Xprize for Good competition. The winners will be announced in 2020.

The project will help the business diversify its markets, thereby increasing its sales and exports. The contribution will go toward prospecting, producing promotional tools and registering a patent.

Fifteen jobs will be created once the project is completed.

Ondia Inc.

Repayable contribution of $50,000 out of a total investment of $115,000

A start-up established in 2017, Ondia Inc. offers software to analyze ultrasound data used to inspect and verify the compliance of metal structure welds. It is the only non-destructive check (NDC) technology to incorporate artificial intelligence and cloud computing.

The purpose of the project is to improve the product and its international marketing. The funding will be used to hire artificial intelligence specialists and carry out activities to promote its software in Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

The project will create two jobs.

Summary

• Number of projects: 3
• Number of jobs created: 27
• CED’s contributions: $559,000
• Total investments generated by these projects: $1,669,040