Speaking Points
Peter Braid,
Member of Parliament for Kitchener–Waterloo
Waterloo, Ontario
July 7, 2015
Check against delivery
Good morning ladies and gentlemen, friends and guests.
Thank you for that warm introduction.
I am happy to be here to deliver some great news on behalf of the Government of Canada.
The Canadian economy has experienced one of the best performances among the G7 countries over the recovery from the Great Recession. I am proud to say we are consistently recognized as one of the most welcoming places to do business. Our taxes are among the lowest, our skilled workforce is unmatched, and Canada now boasts one of the best job creation records in the G7. The Economic Action Plan 2015 is the Government's low-tax plan for jobs, growth and security.
Our Government's main priorities remain job creation, economic growth and long-term prosperity for Canadians. We are focused on making Canada more competitive on a global level and allowing job-creating businesses, such as those found in Waterloo, to thrive through innovation.
We each have a part to play in creating opportunities that spur innovation. From both the private and public sectors, and across different industries, partnerships and collaborative projects enable businesses to take advantage of new opportunities to grow business and reach their fullpotential.
The Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario, or FedDev Ontario as it is more commonly known, has funded thousands of partnerships and projects all across southern Ontario.
FedDev Ontario's Investing in Business Innovation initiative focuses on just that—a more competitive southern Ontario economy by encouraging the development of partnerships between entrepreneurs and investors to support early-stage, globally-oriented businesses that have the potential to become world-leading innovators.
We are here today to share some great news with one of these businesses – RSVP Technologies Inc.
In 2013, under the leadership of Dr. Ming Li, RSVP Technologies began researching, developing and commercializing general Question Answer (QA) and Natural Language Processing technologies for mobile devices, such as tourist information apps for smartphones or GPS systems for cars, in Chinese and English.
The technology is based on various major databases, including a database of 200 million existing questions and answers, knowledge-bases and a translation technology that uses the already established English data, making RSVP QA the most advanced Natural Language Processing technology product in the Chinese market.
I'm honoured to be here today, on behalf of Minister Goodyear, the Minister of State for FedDev Ontario, to announce that RSVP Technologies Inc. will be receiving up to $950,000 to undertake work on customizing its current Natural Language Processing technology to expand business within the Chinese market.
This investment is being made through FedDev Ontario's Investing in Business Innovation initiative.
In addition to the FedDev Ontario contribution, this project will enable RSVP Technologies to leverage up to $1.9 million through GTAN angel investors. This project will not only accelerate growth opportunities for the company, but also create local job opportunities and growth for the Information Communications Technology cluster in the Waterloo region.
Our goal is to build on the strengths of this region, to create prosperous communities that boast strong, innovative economies. That is what we hope to achieve with today's announcement.
I wish the team at RSVP Technologies the very best on their project and I look forward to seeing the innovative technology in action.
Thank you for your time.
