Enhancing Canada’s Accelerators and Incubators (Views: 3483)
Wed, 23 Oct 2013
Following the announcement of its mammoth $400 million program in January, the Venture Capital Action Plan hit the news once again as the National Research Council-Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC-IRAP) made a new Request for Proposals public in September. The Request was issued under the Canada Accelerator and Incubator Program which results from last years’ consultations with Canadian venture capital stakeholders. The Minister of State, Greg Rickford and the Minister of Finance, Jim Flaherty, were present to announce their high expectations for CAIP.
Funding for the Canada Accelerators and Incubators Program comes from Economic Action Plan 2013 which released $60 million over five years with the purpose of helping high potential incubators and accelerators offer better services to promising entrepreneurs and start-up firms. The funding program also aims to target well-connected organizations, which promote interactions between national as well as international incubators and accelerators, research institutions, investors and venture capital funds.
While explaining the programs’ latest development, Minister Flaherty expressed his high esteem of business incubators and accelarators as well as his excitement over the business mentorship prospects that CAIP will generate. The minister also stated that CAIP will not only help breed better business ideas, facilitate business progress and increase employment opportunities but went as far as saying that it will ultimately lead to better Canadian businessmen than those we see today.
All the while, Minister Rickford stated that the Harper Government’s Venture Capital Action Plan is one big step towards securing a prosperous future for Canada by ensuring that innovative startups have the resources required to grow and succeed.
Interested applicants can submit a proposal before October 30 through the NRC: http://www.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/eng/irap/caip/index.html.
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