Harper Government Partners with Mitacs to Support Growth of Western Businesses

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - May 8, 2015) - Western Economic Diversification Canada

Today, the Honourable Michelle Rempel, Minister of State for Western Economic Diversification, announced $1,562,000 in funding to Mitacs, which will support economic growth and facilitate high-value partnerships between multinational enterprises (MNEs) and small businesses in Western Canada.

Through this funding, Mitacs will create an initiative called Mitacs Converge, which will help support partnerships between MNEs and innovative Canadian SMEs and academic institutions. At the same time, Mitacs Converge will help small businesses access global supply chains, existing customers and global export markets.

The Mitacs Converge initiative will work with MNEs to identify their research and development challenges and invite SMEs to submit proposals describing how they would address the identified industrial research challenge. Through this process, Canadian companies will gain access to new markets and opportunities for their innovative products and services.

Quick Facts

• Founded in 1999, Mitacs is a national organization that manages and funds research and training programs for undergraduate, graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in partnership with universities, industry and government in Canada.

• The Converge program builds on Mitacs' national track record in establishing research collaborations between industry and academia. Having worked with over 3,000 companies on 10,000 projects across Canada, Mitacs is focused on helping leading-edge SMEs grow by linking them into the global innovation supplies chains of research-intensive multinational companies.

• Investment in research and development is highly correlated with the innovation that drives productivity, future revenue and profit growth. Large MNEs are significant drivers and consumers of innovation.

Quotes

"Canada is home to many impressive innovators who are helping to shape our economic future and create new jobs. Establishing partnerships between our innovative small businesses and multinational enterprises will secure access to more customers and generate new economic opportunities so that we can achieve even greater success."

- The Honourable Michelle Rempel, Minister of State for Western Economic Diversification

"Mitacs Converge seeks to help Canadian small and medium business grow by supporting R&D and promoting innovation in conjunction with multinational firms. Mitacs thanks Western Economic Diversification Canada for this investment, and we look forward to working with industry and academia to support the research, development, and commercialization of Converge projects."

- Olga Stachova, Chief Operating Officer, Mitacs

Additional Links

- Innovation Opportunities in Western Canada: http://www.wd-deo.gc.ca/eng/107.asp

- Mitacs: http://www.mitacs.ca/en/newsroom

Subscribe to news releases and keep up-to-date on the latest from WD. Follow us on Twitter at @WD_Canada.

The West Means Business.

IF THERE IS A DISCREPANCY BETWEEN ANY PRINTED VERSION AND THE ELECTRONIC VERSION OF THIS NEWS RELEASE, THE ELECTRONIC VERSION WILL PREVAIL.