Tech Update: Canada opens the doors to more manufacturing, new players invest in innovation and other news – Toronto Star
After the dire shortages of PPE early in the pandemic and slow rollout of the COVID vaccine, Canada is making a concerted effort to entice new manufacturing entrants into the market. And it’s starting to pay off.
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After the dire shortages of PPE early in the pandemic and slow rollout of the COVID vaccine, Canada is making a concerted effort to entice new manufacturing entrants into the market. And it’s starting to pay off.
Massachusetts-based drug maker Moderna is developing an mRNA vaccine manufacturing plant in Canada by 2024. Two battery cell manufacturers have recently announced they will set up shop in Canada, one in Quebec and one in Ontario, with plans to build gigawatt hour–scale cell manufacturing facilities.
“These new facilities will cause a ripple effect on our economy,” says Jason MacFarlane, head of advanced manufacturing services at MaRS Discovery District, “such an increase in local jobs, shorter delivery times, innovation, reliable quality and a smaller carbon footprint. It can also be a win-win situation for Canadian startups looking to break into markets abroad,” he says.
Robert Bush, founder and CEO of Rivelin Robotics, a U.K.-based company that uses sensors, digital twins and computer vision to make an automated platform for metalworking, has been eyeing the Toronto and Montreal markets for some time, given its strength in additive manufacturing and artificial intelligence research. When presented with the opportunity to be part of a new four-month manufacturing incubation program aimed at helping launch U.K. startups into North American markets, he jumped at the chance.
“North America is one of the best regions for adopting new technologies,” says Robert Bush, founder and CEO of Rivelin Robotics. “Manufacturers have been crying out for more automation within additive manufacturing and this partnership will increase our exposure and chances of adoption into this sector.”
Led by Innovate UK, the British government’s innovation agency and MaRS Discovery District, the program offers Rivelin Robotics and seven other British advanced-manufacturing startups targeted workshops, advisory support and networking opportunities to help the participants sharpen their value proposition and better understand the needs of North America’s manufacturing community.
More Canadian companies jump into the investment game
Investments have been pouring into startups during the pandemic at record levels. Now large Canadian companies are getting in on the action.
Toy giant, Spin Master, the company behind the franchise Paw Patrol, announced a $100 million fund for games and entertainment last week. And that comes hot on the heels of Thomson Reuters’s launch of an early-stage fund for new media and information technology.
Corporate participation was on the rise, making up 39 per cent of all Canadian deals, a 2018 PwC and CB Insights report found. In an interview with Betakit, Michael Dingle, PwC’s national technology sector leader explained that corporates were finding that the risk-reward of investing in Canadian innovation and technology at earlier stages made good business sense.
“These entities are challenging the traditional distribution inside of the market and are providing these corporates with something they don’t otherwise have,” said …….
