Southern Ontario Innovation Featured in New Video Series

VENTURE13, COBOURG, ONTARIO, March 26, 2024—With the support of FedDev Ontario and the Government of Canada, NCFDC is proud to share a new video series introducing the world to some of the most exciting innovation-driven enterprise in southern Ontario, companies that are producing, growing, creating jobs, impacting GDP and contributing to economic advancement in key sectors.

On the one hand, in this series you will meet established firms working from a powerful foundation, industrial SMEs in the process of expanding through innovation. And on the other hand, you will discover brand new ventures, Start-ups led by rising entrepreneurs creating new industries and avant-garde technologies.

A quick thriveFORWARD recap:

• An innovation initiative delivered by NCFDC that ran from June 2022-March 2024.
• Two Streams: Start-ups ($25K) and SMEs ($100K) – matching performance based funding.
• 179 diverse and inclusive projects supported across southern Ontario (114 Start-ups, 65 SMEs).
• Critical sectors: food, bio-manufacturing, medtech.
• Themes: cleantech, sustainability and inclusivity, job creation and economic growth.
• Private sector leverage: almost $50 million (5:1, highest in NCFDC corporate history).
• Jobs impacted: nearly 3.7K.
• New products, services and processes realized: 379.
• New Intellectual Property (IP): 130.

As this round of thriveFORWARD comes to an end with investments in 65 industrial SMEs and 113 Start-ups, we turn from the metrics to the stories, to the talent and tech. We hope you will enjoy these video success stories introducing the world to thriving industries across southern Ontario.

The Board of Directors and staff of NCFDC would like to thank the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario and the Government of Canada for making thriveFORWARD possible, for driving investments in strategic innovation capital that will yield economic benefits for our communities over the foreseeable horizon. NCFDC and our partners remain committed to maximizing industry and entrepreneur-led job creation and growth in southern Ontario, with a focus on inclusivity and sustainability.

We hope you will follow and support the entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs showcased in this series, and all thriveFORWARD portfolio companies (follow them on social media, connect and share)! Let’s recognize their leadership and the relentless effort and determination that goes into successful innovation commercialization.

And if you enjoyed this series, you might also want to check out our Frontier Entrepreneurship Podcast. Season 1 features even more of the southern Ontario tech startups backed by FedDev Ontario via thriveFORWARD.

~NCFDC

Contact

Daniela Scoppa
Marketing & Communications Coordinator – NCFDC
647-570-7851