Tech Update: Latest innovation funding; carbon capture breakthrough, and enterprise capital’s surprisingly good 12 months

The Biden administration’s recent Inflation Reduction Act will pour billions into American clean technology and advanced manufacturing. That’s a win for the climate, but a challenge for countries like Canada, which must now keep pace with a turbocharged U.S. manufacturing sector.

Canada’s own moves to spice up high-tech parts of the economy have began to take shape with a call from Ottawa to double down on five innovation clusters. These organizations have been established in sectors seen as having high-grown potential, including manufacturing, artificial intelligence and recent proteins.

“Canada has an awesome track record in funding research and startups. What we’re not good at is adopting these technologies to grow the Canadian industry,” Jayson Myers, CEO of NGen, a not-for-profit organization that leads Canada’s Global Innovation Cluster for Advanced Manufacturing. Created in 2018, the innovation clusters aim to bring together private and non-private sector entities to speed up the scaling-up of latest technologies in Canada. “We wish to construct world-leading corporations here after which connect them with global business opportunities,” he adds.

The federal government will invest greater than $700 million within the five clusters, of which NGen will receive as much as $177 million. Myers says the funding will help ensure Canadian competitiveness in global markets by bringing the perfect minds together. “No person has all of the answers today to give you solutions themselves,” he says.

Carbon Upcycling plans Mississauga facility

Carbon Upcycling, a Calgary startup that traps carbon emissions and turns them into useful products, will install its first industrial-sized facility on the Ash Grove cement plant on Mississauga’s lakefront. The move follows an investment in the corporate from the enterprise fund CRH, which owns Ash Grove. CRH is one in all the world’s largest constructing materials corporations and says it hopes to scale Carbon Upcycling’s technology throughout its operations.

Breakthrough made in carbon capture

In other concrete developments, a trio of corporations including Halifax’s CarbonCure have succeeded in removing carbon from the air and sequestering it in concrete for the primary time. Thus far, the technology has been demonstrated at a small scale for construction projects in California, but the businesses hope it could actually be scaled up. Several corporations — including Carbon Upcycling, above — have developed systems for locking up carbon in concrete, but normally the carbon dioxide is drawn from industrial processes moderately than the air.

Employment event opens doors in tech sector

With layoffs in Canada and globally, it’s a tough time to enter the tech industry. But a free event for college kids and graduates next week could be just the thing for those wishing to get into the industry. Hosted by the Coalition of Innovation Leaders Against Racism, MyStartr and Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, it includes upskilling workshops, networking opportunities and panel discussions.

Latest transatlantic network will support women entrepreneurs

A recent network for organizations supporting women entrepreneurs will likely be launched on International Women’s Day (March 8) with the aim of sharing insights and best practices between France and Canada. The initiative, which is backed by several French-speaking business groups, will likely be unveiled at events held concurrently in Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal and Paris. The organizers can even release a report concerning the status of support for ladies in STEM.

By the numbers

1,000 MWh: Construction will soon start on Canada’s largest energy storage project. The 1,000-megawatt-hour battery system, a joint project of NRStor and the Six Nations of the Grand River Development Corporation, is predicted to be accomplished in 2025.

$6.5 million: BrainBox AI, which builds AI systems to assist business buildings optimize energy consumption, has received $6.5 million from the federal government to further develop its tech.

$10 billion: Despite tough market conditions, $10 billion of enterprise capital was invested in Canadian corporations in 2022, making it the second-best 12 months ever after 2021.