Five winners of Canada’s Innovation Supercluster Initiative have been announced to receive $950M over 5 years in non-repayable funding. While announcing the winners on February 15th 2018, Economic Development Minister Navdeep Bains described a supercluster as “a made-in-Canada Silicon Valley that will create tens of thousands of jobs”
The Canadian Government defines ‘Superclusters’ as dense areas of business activity where people with diverse skills work together, where companies large and small work with universities colleges, and technical schools and where people get inspired. These places create new business opportunities and middle class jobs that pay well.
Superclusters support innovation and boost the economy by advancing technological capabilities, attracting cutting edge research, investment and talent, helping companies succeed in the global market place, and building long term advantage and global recognition for Canada.
According to the Economic Development Minister, these superclusters will “usher in an unprecedented era of innovation and progress.”
The winners of the Supercluster Initiative include:
| Supercluster Inititive Winner | Regional Concentration | Job creation over 10 years | GDP impact over 10 years | Technology Focus | Applicant |
| Digital Technology Supercluster | BC | >13,500 jobs | >$5B | Virtual, mixed & augmented reality; data collection & analytics; quantum computing | TELUS Communications Inc. along with >70 innovation partners |
| Protein Industries Supercluster | Prairies | >4,500 jobs | >$4.5B | Agri-food enabling technologies, including genomics, processing, & information technology (IT) | Ag-West Bio Inc. along with >60 innovation partners |
| Advanced Manufacturing Supercluster | Ontario | >13,500 jobs | >$13.5B | Internet of Things, machine learning, cybersecurity, additive manufacturing (3D printing) | Communitech and MaRS Discovery District along with >100 innovation partners |
| AI-Powered Supply Chains Supercluster (SCALE.AI) | Quebec | >16,000 jobs | >$16.5B | Artificial intelligence and supply chain technology | Optel Group along with >80 innovation partners |
| Ocean Supercluster | Atlantic Canada | >3,000 jobs | >$14B | Digital sensors and monitoring, autonomous marine vehicles, energy generation, automation, marine biotechnology and marine engineering technologies | Petroleum Research Newfoundland and Labrador along with >25 innovation partners |
Contact us today to find out how government funding for superclusters could impact your company and to learn about the various opportunities for growing your business.