September 24, 2010

TORONTO, Ontario — The Government of Canada launched a program to help kickstart Canadian businesses by testing their innovative products and services within the Government of Canada before taking them to the marketplace. To make the announcement, the Honourable Rona Ambrose, Minister of Public Works and Government Services and Minister for Status of Women, is joined by Honourable Jim Flaherty, Minister of Finance and Minister Responsible for the Greater Toronto Area, and the Honourable Rob Moore, Minister of State for Small Business and Tourism.

"There is no question that in Canada we have enormous talent and potential when it comes to innovation," said Minister Ambrose. "With this new program, our Government will be giving our talent a kickstart in getting their innovative products and services off the ground.”

This program is a new $40 million program announced under Budget 2010 to encourage federal departments and agencies to test innovative products and services in four areas: environment, health, safety and security, and enabling technologies.

“We listened to businesses across the country in developing Canada’s Economic Action Plan, and an important concern was how they could get their product to market in today’s economy,” said Minister Flaherty. “By testing their products and services within government, we are investing in job creation and in the future of Canadian companies that have innovative ideas.”

“Today’s new initiatives are among the important measures introduced by our Government to ensure Canadian small and medium-sized businesses can grow and prosper,” said Minister Moore. “We are proud to encourage Canada’s tremendous entrepreneurial spirit through this new program.”

"The government is recognizing that the gap between innovators’ ideas and the marketplace is simply someone willing to bet on them, willing to take a chance on their product and then willing to give them feedback so that they can grow their business," said W. Brett Wilson of the Dragon's Den. "This program is about giving entrepreneurs a chance, and I'm looking forward to watching as it performs over time."

For more details about the new program to help kickstart Canadian businesses, see the backgrounders on the Canadian Innovation Commercialization Program (CICP) and on the new buyandsell.gc.ca website.