Through Western Economic Diversification Canada (WD), the Government of Canada has invested $5 million in an Alberta Innovates initiative designed to draw technology and business accelerators to the province.
The funding for Alberta Innovatesโ Scale Up and Growth Accelerator Program comes through the Regional Innovation Ecosystem (RIE) program, which WD has been tasked with administering investments from in the region.
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The fresh federal capital comes in addition to the up to $25 million previously committed by Alberta Innovates to the initiative.
โBusiness growth and scale-up is critically important to Albertaโs technology-based businesses,โ said Laura Kilcrease.
A total of up to $30 million in funding over three years is available to three or more accelerators as part of the program, which aims to help address Albertaโs scale-up gap by supporting more Alberta startups and small-to-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Alberta Innovates also retains an option to extend these contracts for an additional two years.
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โBusiness growth and scale-up is critically important to Albertaโs technology-based businesses,โ said Laura Kilcrease, Alberta Innovatesโ CEO. โThis partnership with Western Economic Diversification extends our ability to help these businesses grow, attract investment and thrive.โ
The additional federal funding will enable Alberta Innovates to expand the amount of funds available to not-for-profit business accelerators participating in its Scale-Up and Growth Accelerator Program. In March, Alberta Innovates said it would consider both private and not-for-profit accelerator models for the initiative. The organization first launched a request for proposals for the development of business accelerators on March 31, and applications closed April 30.
According to Alberta Innovates, the province โhas a scaleup gap.โ The organization claimed that although half of all Alberta startups survive over five years, โonly 0.1 per cent of small firms become mid-size, and only two percent of mid-sized firms become large.โ
โThis additional funding augments the $25 million that our government is putting towards tech accelerators in Alberta,โ said Doug Schweitzer, Albertaโs minister of jobs, economy, and innovation. โWith funding from all three levels of government, we are going to fill the gap that exists and build on the huge momentum we are seeing in tech companies across Alberta.โ
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Alberta Innovates is a crown corporation of the Government of Alberta that has been tasked with promoting tech and innovation in the province. The organization recentlyย bolsteredย its support of its Regional Innovation Networks, nearly doubling its typical annual commitment.
In a recent interview,ย Schweitzer told BetaKitย he wants Alberta to be a โdominant playerโ in Canadian tech. The provincial government has recently taken steps towards this goal, allocating funding for the tech sector in itsย 2021 budgetย as part of Albertaโs overall economic recovery plan. The provinceโs securities regulators also recentlyย adoptedย a new measure to increase the investment potential of Alberta startups.
WD is the federal governmentโs Western Canada-based regional economic development agency. According to WD, about 300 Alberta tech companies across a range of economic sectors are expected to benefit from the Scale Up and Growth Accelerator Program over the next three years.
RELATED:ย Albertaโs innovation minister wants province to be a dominant player in Canadian tech
A group of Alberta business leaders also recently launched a new task force aimed at the provinceโs economic future. The Business Council of Alberta (BCA) has launched Define the Decade, a new, 14-member research and economic task force of CEOs.
The task force will be co-chaired by a prominent member of the provinceโs innovation ecosystem, Cory Janssen, the co-founder and co-CEO of AltaML. Janssen told BetaKit โtech and innovation is critical to this task force, and Albertaโs future.โ
โAlberta is at a point where we are no longer just an โemergingโ tech hub, we have the opportunity to take a position among the best tech ecosystems on the continent,โ said Janssen. โTo do that though, we need to reject the idea that supporting tech means focusing less on other industries. Albertaโs fantastic assets in health, energy, talent and more are what is going to accelerate the growth of our tech sector.โ
RELATED:ย Alberta 2021 budget includes funding for tech sector as part of overall recovery plan
According to the BCA, its work will be informed and augmented by input from provincial stakeholders, experts, and regular Albertans, as it looks to create โa unifying vision of what a good life and great Alberta looks like 10 years from now.โ The BCA says it will develop a framework for how to get there, including the economic environment necessary to spur investment and job creation.
Janssen said that although there is a โserious commitmentโ to Alberta tech from business, government, and the provinceโs population, and the sectorโs momentum is growing, โthe reality is, however, that we still need to up our gameโ in terms of creating tech companies and developing the talent they need.
Over the next six months, this task force will conduct research and develop a vision and framework. The group plans to release interim reports and research throughout the process, towards a goal of publishing a final report in January 2022.
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