Thank you Peter, for that kind introduction.
Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for inviting me to join you today. C'est un grand plaisir d'être ici avec vous aujourd'hui.
It's an honour to be here again this year to speak to so many academic, business and community leaders, and innovators, who know the importance of innovation, as I do.
Our Government understands that Canadian innovators need our support in order for their game-changing ideas to compete in a fast-paced competitive global market.
To that end, our Government, through the Federal Economic Development Agency, or FedDev Ontario as we are known, is investing in the newest and brightest ideas that will not only help Canada to compete, and will support global innovation.
Here, in southern Ontario, we have seen a lot of change. The same can be said of Canada's economy over the past few decades.
We have seen a shift from goods to services and the emergence of the knowledge-based economy.
In areas where we have roots in traditional manufacturing and automotive production, we have seen a move toward more innovative logistics, green automotive, and advanced manufacturing sectors.
Ontario's Information and Communications Technology, or ICT, industry directly employs more than 200,000 people, representing almost half of the sector employment in Canada. As you know, here in Waterloo, a world-class information and communications technology cluster has developed. The region is home to more than 1,000 technology companies, which generate more than $30 billion in revenues annually. There are over 30,000 tech professionals in the area, more than 17,000 employed specifically in ICT locally.
There are new competitors who have raised the bar, and who have increased the pace and inventiveness of technology.
The world keeps moving faster.
And if Canadians want to succeed, we need to be at the top of our game.
I am proud that our Government, under the stewardship of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and the late Jim Flaherty — the best Finance Minister this country has ever had, has been successful in getting Canada's economy through rough waters, to the point where we are in a position of envy of other G-7 countries. We have set the right macro-economic conditions to help our businesses.
Ladies and gentlemen, as Minister of State for FedDev Ontario, I can tell you about the investments we are making in southern Ontario's businesses, communities and people.
We've invested more than one billion dollars into the economy, and formed partnerships with more than 5,300 organizations, which in turn has helped attract an additional $1.5 billion of investment from almost wholly non-governmental sources.
As you know, the theme of this conference is “Leading Global Innovation.”
And a big part of our work at FedDev Ontario is about growing the region's innovation capacity.
We have invested in innovative projects to help businesses increase their production, and reach new markets.
An example of this is Waterloo-based Aeryon Labs. They design and manufacture small Unmanned Aerial Systems (sUAS) for aerial intelligence gathering, for a wide range of surveillance and reconnaissance applications for military, public safety and commercial use. A FedDev Ontario contribution of $985,000, along with angel financing raised through the Golden Triangle Angel Network toward total project costs of $4.1 million, has helped the company to bring a new product, the AeryonSkyRanger™, to market. The SkyRanger™ deploys immediately, increases flight performance and endurance, and delivers new capabilities in camera quality, network integration, and more.
We have also invested in companies like Flixel Photos Inc. in Toronto, which you may have heard of if you watched the last season of America's Next Top Model. FedDev Ontario made a repayable contribution of up to $283,333 to Flixel, toward total project costs of $850,000. Flixel's partners include Mantella Venture Partners and the MaRS Angel Network. The funds helped accelerate the commercialization of their Cinemagraph technology, which is a kind of living photo creation software. This pushed the technology to be recognized and adopted more quickly, and as part of this success, it has been heavily used and promoted on Top Model, as well, it has since reached featured status on the Mac App Store.
These are great examples of what can happen when we work together to get innovative ideas moving more quickly, and more broadly. As well, this is one way that we can lead global innovation, starting right here in southern Ontario.
Ladies and gentlemen, we know there is more to do. I am absolutely confident that Ontario has the know-how and the means to be leaders in innovation. I know that together, we can accomplish so much more.
Our goal now is to make sure our communities and businesses can continue to innovate and find opportunities and to help the economy grow.
To make this happen, we have launched our new suite of initiatives to help this region grow.
For instance, the next phase of the Investing in Business Innovation initiative aims to support early-stage companies to commercialize their products, provides support for not-for-profit organizations to offer skills development and seed financing to new entrepreneurs, , and also supports angel investor organizations to grow membership.
And that is not the only funding opportunity available.
The Investing in Business Growth and Productivity initiative, designed to help businesses become more productive and competitive; the Investing in Commercialization Partnerships initiative designed to help convert research, new ideas and technologies into products and services; and the Investing in Regional Diversification Initiative, designed to help diversify local economies; are also open for applications.
These four new funding initiatives are known as the Southern Ontario Prosperity Initiatives and they are the result of a great deal of stakeholder consultation across the region.
They are designed to invest in: inspired and determined entrepreneurs; innovative and globally-oriented businesses and organizations; and strong and prosperous partnerships and communities, creating an advantage to compete both at home and abroad.
Combined they represent more than a half a billion dollars-worth of funding available for businesses, not-for-profits, academia.
We have also launched the $200-million Advanced Manufacturing Fund, which is available over the next five years across all of Ontario for projects that demonstrate product, process, and technological innovation.
We continue to have the potential for game-changing innovation here in southern Ontario.
Through the Agency's activities over the next five years, I'm sure we will see some new exciting and original technologies developed that will help give southern Ontario a competitive edge, and support business innovation.
Thank you. Merci.
