Prime Minister Stephen Harper was in Kitchener on Friday to announce a new, $100-million fund for high-tech startups – including some local efforts.
The fund, known as the Canada Accelerator and Incubator Program or CAIP, was first promised in the 2013 federal budget.
“These are advanced products that will really be driving the jobs of the future,” Harper said.
Over five years, 15 accelerator centres across the country will receive a share of the $100 million.
Communitech will work in concert with other local accelerators to distribute the local portion of the fund.
As a condition of the funding, the accelerators will have to raise an equal amount from the private sector.
Before announcing the CAIP funding, Harper met briefly with local startups.
“I’ve seen a lot of interesting innovations and a lot of smart, young people who are working on them,” he said following his tour.
In attendance at the prime minister’s announcement were a who’s who of the local technology and education worlds.
University of Waterloo president Feridun Hamdullahpur said the program would help keep some of the brightest minds to come out of his school from bolting for Silicon Valley or other incubators outside Canada.
“If we don’t provide them with the appropriate elements, such as this funding … not only will we be disappointing them, we’ll be losing them,” he said.
Greater Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber of Commerce president Ian McLean said the benefits of the fund would spin off to the rest of the region’s economy, including the 20 per cent of local employment that remains in the manufacturing base.
“If those manufacturers are going to be able to compete in a global environment … they’re going to need the technology that comes from innovation hubs like this,” he told reporters.
The 15 groups accepted into CAIP include a mixture of accelerators, which are usually run by venture capitalists, and incubators, which are typically non-profits.
With files from The Canadian Press
