Today, the Honourable Andrew Furey, Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, joined industry partners for the kick-off of Innovation Week, which runs from October 19 to 22. During the launch, Premier Furey highlighted three initiatives receiving $1.7 million in provincial funding that demonstrate the diversity of supports needed to drive innovation.
Companies that innovate successfully enhance their competitiveness and position themselves for growth. The Provincial Government investments announced today include:
- $900,000 for Mitacs, an organization that supports business innovation and technology commercialization while training the next generation of graduate students in advanced and applied research and development. Mitacs is using this funding to deliver Accelerate internships over a three-year period. A recent update from the Mitacs team is very impressive. With a target of 225 Accelerate internships, 130 have already been filled throughout the province in a variety of sectors.
- $748,928 for the Iron Ore Company of Canada for a research and development project that is looking to solve one of the largest technical challenges for the iron ore industry in the Labrador Trough region – the recovery of fine iron.
- $66,086 for Resource Innovations Inc. a company located in Corner Brook, which provides forest and environmental management and planning services. This support will enable the company to purchase updated mapping software to support its Geographic Information Systems, which is essential as this industry is witnessing a major shift to digital data management and remote data collection and processing.
The province’s tech sector is already estimated at a value of $1.6 billion in Newfoundland and Labrador, with approximately 165 companies and 4000 employees; and demand is expected to exceed 2000 new tech jobs over the next three years.
Quotes
“It was my pleasure to join NATI for the kick-off of Innovation Week in our province. Our government’s investments announced today, highlight the diversity of innovation and technology initiatives across a variety of sectors in Newfoundland and Labrador. We must ensure we continue to diversify our economy to open up opportunities and create employment.”
Honourable Andrew Furey
Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador
“Countries and provinces with robust innovation and research and development activity see improvements in productivity, economic growth, and job creation and have more resources available to support spending in education, health, infrastructure and other areas. I am pleased to support these exciting projects and I wish participants of Innovation Week every success as we celebrate innovation and the tech sector in our province.”
Honourable Andrew Parsons
Minister of Industry, Energy and Technology
“We are grateful to partner with the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to support economic growth and innovation in the province. This investment will promote increased opportunities and prosperity in the province.”
John Hepburn
CEO and Scientific Director, Mitacs
“IOC is committed to finding new and innovative ways to enhance our operations. The Reflux Classifier technology has the potential to increase IOC’s productivity and contribute to the sustainability of our operation. Full implementation will also increase IOC’s ability to compete in the global market. We are very pleased to have the support of the NL government on this initiative.”
Clayton Walker
President and CEO, IOC
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Learn more
Innovation Week 2020
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Media contacts
Meghan McCabe
Office of the Premier
709-729-3960
meghanmccabe@gov.nl.ca
Lisa Lawlor
Industry, Energy and Technology
709-729-5777, 631-8155
lisalawlor@gov.nl.ca
Heather Young
Mitacs
604-818-0020
hyoung@mitacs.ca
Simon Letendre
Rio Tinto
514-796-4973
simon.letendre@riotinto.com