Canada’s technology sector has played a crucial role in
Canadian employment and economic growth. This role has been further
fueled by the global economy’s increased demand for
technological solutions as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
With the pandemic expected to push the Canadian economy into a
recession, economists have been advocating for targeted support of
Canadian tech companies with the belief that getting Canadian
industries up and running in a post-COVID landscape will require
adaptation and innovation supplied by our technology sector.
Innovations coming out of Canadian startups and emerging growth
companies are being touted as methods to fuel Canada’s economic
recovery by supporting Canadian industries, including artificial
intelligence, cybersecurity, e-commerce, data and clean technology
needs.
133 CEOs of Canadian technology companies have signed a letter advocating on behalf of the tech
community, calling upon the Federal Government to put together a
bold and cohesive plan to support innovation in Canada. The robust
plan would ideally include strategic investment into Canadian tech
businesses, commercialization of Canadian ideas, and bolster
Canada’s protection of intellectual property and data.
Alberta’s Supports for Technology Sector
Alberta’s economic forecast and anticipated struggles from
the pandemic has led to the provincial government’s decision to
diversify the Albertan economy and shift towards supporting local
technological innovation and investment, as outlined in their Recovery Plan. Recently proposed and
implemented programs have acknowledged the importance of providing
resources, funding, and strategic investments to provincial tech
startups and emerging growth companies in order to cultivate
Alberta’s technological ecosystem and develop a tech-based
economy. These programs include the following:
- The Innovation Employment Grant launches in January
2021. This grant has been designed to encourage economic growth by
supporting research and development initiatives in Alberta,
regardless of industry. By funding up to 20% on qualifying
expenditures through the corporate tax system, the Alberta
government will be focusing on small and medium-sized enterprises
that are making investments in technology and innovation. By
providing such a substantial grant, the Innovation Employment Grant
is significantly more generous than analogous tax credits being
offered by British Columbia and Ontario. - Alberta Enterprise Corporation’s Accelerate Fund III
(“Fund III”) is a fund that provides funding to
Alberta’s tech startups and entrepreneurs and aims to match
investments from angel investors. Since its inception, Alberta
Enterprise Corporation has been helping the province’s venture
capital industry grow by investing in venture capital funds that
finance early-stage technology companies. As part of a recent initiative, the Alberta government has
invested an additional $5 million into Fund III, bringing the total
funding available for local startups to $15 million. - Alberta’s Major Innovation Fund has recently awarded a total of $11.8 million to
the University of Calgary to support technological innovation
initiatives. $3 million of this award will go towards the
University’s quantum technologies research with the aim to
attract talent to the province, create long-term jobs, and help
commercialize new quantum technologies for a variety of industries.
$3.9 million of the award will be used by the University of Calgary
to research antimicrobial resistance to help position Alberta as a
leader in addressing global challenges associated with bacteria or
viruses resisting treatment. The remaining $4.9 million of the
award will be put towards the University’s SMILE-UVI satellite
project to pay for research to study the effect of space radiation
on the atmosphere, industrial infrastructure, and technology in
applications like enhanced GPS and satellite imaging in oil and gas
mining. - New immigration pathways have been developed
by Alberta’s government with the intention of attracting
investment, creating new high-paying jobs for Albertans,
diversifying the province’s economy and encouraging
international graduates to create startups in Alberta. Beginning
October 26, international graduates from Alberta’s universities
and colleges can apply to the province’s International Graduate
Entrepreneur Immigration Stream to launch startups in Alberta.
Similarly, the Alberta government will be enticing international
entrepreneurs to form their startups in Alberta through the Foreign
Graduate Start-up Visa Stream, which will roll out in January 2021
with the aim of attracting entrepreneurial international graduates
from U.S. universities and colleges. - Through the Technology Innovation and Emissions Reduction
(“TIER”) fund, the Alberta government is investing in a series of programs looking to create
thousands of jobs for Albertans while reducing emissions. In a
direct response to the COVID-19 pandemic and low oil prices, $750
million of the TIER fund and other public and industry supplied
funding will be used to support a suite of programs which include
investment into local technology and innovation which aim to
increase carbon capture, utilization and storage as well as reduce
emissions. - Alberta’s government is investing $9 million into the Alberta Machine
Intelligence Institute (“Amii”), an institute with a
mission to make artificial intelligence and machine learning the
primary drivers of economic growth for Alberta. The investment will
flow through Alberta Innovates and through the Technology
Innovation and Emissions Reduction system, and will permit Amii to
continue its world-class research and accelerated commercialization
of new technologies while simultaneously helping Alberta companies
reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the energy and agriculture
sectors through artificial intelligence and machine learning. - Along with acting as a conduit for the Alberta government’s
investment into artificial intelligence, Alberta
Innovates is the provinces’ largest research and innovation
agency. The Alberta government is partnered with Alberta Innovates
to ensure that the agency can successfully launch local research
and innovation opportunities and policies which align with
provincial priorities and initiatives.
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