springboard - funding innovation in saskatchewan

Financing Innovation

Outline• Innovation and Export• New Product Success• Programs in Saskatchewan• Tying it all together

Countries that Innovate Export• Direct correlation with metrics of innovation

and a country’s exports• Why?– Numbers game

Canadian Research Investment• Ranks high on the world stage– $26.9B in 2008 on Natural Sciences and

Engineering– GERD/GDP in 2006 is 1.94 for Canada, 2.62 in the

US and 1.76 in the EU

Research Institutions• University of Saskatchewan– Ag-bio and oilseed process engineering– iPhone University

• University of Regina– CO2 Capture and Storage– Grey-water Recycling

Canadian Industry Lags

http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/17/33/41558999.pdf

Successful New Products• Solve real market problems– The best people to define these problems are the

people in the field, speaking to customers– Exporters can take those products to market– The cheapest way to create new products is to

leverage the infrastructure that’s already in place

Non-Dilutive Financing• Does not dilute your equity stake in your

company

• “Leveraged investment”

Programs• Grants• Internships• Investment Tax Credits

Grants• Communities of Tomorrow– $15K - $150K late-stage research on municipal

infrastructure

Grants• NRC-IRAP– Grants to firms for up to 75% of cost of market

assessment, management advisory service, or project costs

– YEP, up to $30K to hire recent graduates

Grants• NSERC– One of the largest providers of grant funding to

researchers at universities and colleges.– Also has programs that can be utilized by industry

when collaborating with eligible institutions

Internships• MITACS ACCELERATE – Hiring a graduate student or post doctorate fellow

for a minimum 4 month term to work in your company to solve a defined problem.

– $7500 is paid by firm for each 4 month period

Internships• WestLink Innovation Network– 8 month term with a technically skilled business

development professional

Investment Tax Credits• SRED Credits– For eligible research expenses, a firm can recoup

up to 73.8% of labour expense and up to 44.8% of materials, subcontractors, and capital

How can you benefit?• A logistics problem that a math student can solve in

4 months• A business development staff member to assist in

entry to new markets• Find your next product as your current product

enters the late stages of its product cycle• Prove your conceptualized next product

Thank you!• Questions?

– Divyesh Patel– dpatel@springboardwest.ca– (306)-789-0535