The Short Report: August 7, 2024

GOVERNMENT FUNDING

 Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) announced Canada will commit up to $300 million to support clean hydrogen trade with Germany. The funds will be allocated via a competitive auction process expected to be launched by the end of the year, following European Commission review of the proposed auction parameters and a similar funding commitment from Germany. As part of the joint Canada-Germany Hydrogen Alliance, this initiative will help Canadian companies access German markets for their clean hydrogen and ammonia, NRCan said. It will also ensure Germany has access to competitively priced clean energy products produced by Canadian industry and driven by Canadian workers. NRCan

Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) announced $23.7 million through the Smart Renewables and Electrification Pathways Program for the City of Edmonton’s district energy system in the neighbourhood of Blatchford. This project will create an additional 13.1 megawatts of heating and 12.3 MW of cooling capacity to the existing District Energy Sharing System, to help accommodate development and growth within the community, which will eventually be home to up to 30,000 people. The total project value is $79.2 million, with the remainder being provided by the City of Edmonton. Blatchford is a carbon-neutral community being developed on the site of the decommissioned City Centre Airport in Edmonton. The project will improve the efficiency and reliability of Blatchford’s electricity supply. It will also reduce impacts on peak electricity demand and cut greenhouse gas emissions by providing reliable, renewable heating and cooling energy. This project includes installing an additional heat pump to increase heating and cooling capacity, extending the neighbourhood’s distribution piping network, and designing and building a new Sewer Heat Exchange Energy Centre, generating heating and cooling energy for the growing community. NRCan

Crown-Indigenous Relations and North Affairs Canada (CIRNAC) announced more than $19 million in federal funding for three clean energy projects that will increase renewable energy generation in Rankin Inlet, Baker Lake, and Naujaat, Nunavut. The projects include:

• Construction of a 1.0+ megawatt solar and battery energy storage facility in Naujaat, which currently relies entirely on diesel to meet its electricity needs. This new facility will supply 30 percent of the community’s electricity demand with locally produced renewable energy. The project name “Ikayuut,” chosen by the Hamlet Council of Naujaat, comes from the Inuktitut word “Ikayuuti,” meaning “help, support, or resources.” Construction is set to start in the summer of 2024.
• Early-stage work on three solar installations on buildings owned by Sakku Properties Ltd., a subsidiary of Sakku Investments Corporation, in Rankin Inlet. The systems will result in 300 kilowatt-hours of installed generation capacity, which would reduce diesel and greenhouse gas emissions by more than 56,000 litres and 178,000 kilograms, respectively, each year. The systems are expected to generate solar power for the community by 2025.
• Baker Lake and Rankin Inlet Wind Energy Development Projects, to undertake research and development of wind energy generation to reduce the communities’ reliance on diesel. They will incorporate traditional Inuit knowledge into community input-driven wildlife studies for wind development in northern Canada while supporting local labour, capacity building, training and economic development. CIRNAC

The Government of Canada and the Government of the U.K. launched the first round of projects selected under the Canada-UK Biomanufacturing Collaboration. Canada and the U.K. have established a collaborative fund, with £10 million from the U.K. and $16 million from Canada under its Biomanufacturing and Life Sciences Strategy. This initiative, launched in 2023, aims to strengthen the biomanufacturing sector in both countries and enhance pandemic preparedness. In this first call for proposals, six innovative projects were selected for funding, with Canada contributing approximately $3.4 million. Each project will be led by a consortium of companies from Canada and the U.K. and will focus on enabling technologies and innovations for the biomanufacturing of biologics and advanced therapeutics. The selected projects address critical areas in biomanufacturing, including drug discovery, vaccine production and gene therapy. Notable examples include:

• the development of AI-driven peptide discovery platforms to accelerate and improve drug discovery processes.
• the creation of automated biomanufacturing devices for the production of antibody drug conjugates, enhancing efficiency and reducing costs.
• advancements in sustainable growth factors for cellular therapeutics, supporting the development of next-generation treatments.

The National Research Council of Canada is providing advisory services and up to $3.4 million in R&D funding, through the NRC Industrial Research Assistance Program and the Collaborative Science, Technology and Innovation Program, to support the six collaborative projects. ISED

Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) announced $10.15 million to establish Dalhousie University’s Canadian Battery Innovation Centre (CBIC). Under the leadership of Dalhousie battery scientists Drs. Michael Metzger and Chongyin Yang, the CBIC will facilitate the development of innovations from Canada’s top battery research laboratories by creating next-generation battery cells. The Centre will be a shared space for researchers across Canada, working on high-end battery prototyping, and will provide critical industry-oriented training in battery cell manufacturing to support the specialized workforce needed in Canada’s growing battery sector. The investment builds on $4.98 million in federal funding that was previously committed by Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada through the Canada Foundation for Innovation to deliver on this $20-million project. NRCan

Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) announced a $6.6-million federal investment, through Genome Canada, in two new genomics hubs that will work to improve Canada’s agricultural industry. Provincial governments, businesses and research partners are also investing $9.2 million in co-funding, for a total investment of more than $15.8 million. ISED said the cross-cutting data coordination and knowledge mobilization hubs will maximize and amplify the impacts of the nine interdisciplinary research projects announced last fall that make up Genome Canada’s Climate-Smart Agriculture and Food Systems portfolio. The new hubs are:

• The Climate-Smart Data Collaboration Centre will develop a system for wide and secure data sharing across diverse networks and organizations. This initiative will include common frameworks for data exchange and sharing, open-source data processing toolkits, consensus-driven data governance structures that emphasize equitability and accessibility, and improved community data competency and literacy. The Centre is led by researchers at Simon Fraser University, University of Guelph and Université Laval.
• The Agricultural Genomics Action Centre will align and coordinate the knowledge mobilization strategies and activities of the portfolio to bridge the gap between knowledge generation and implementation. This will help make research findings relevant, accessible, and usable by end users to drive climate change impacts. The Centre is led by researchers at the University of Guelph, University of Saskatchewan and Simon Fraser University. ISED

The Government of Ontario is investing $3.46 million in Toronto-based Element5 (which has a manufacturing plant in St. Thomas, Ont.) to help the mass timber manufacturer expand its operations. The company is Ontario’s first certified manufacturer of cross-laminated timber, part of the fast-growing field of advanced wood construction. This funding will more than triple the company’s production, creating 32 new jobs, increasing revenue by over 300 percent and boosting export sales by nearly 600 percent. The government released its action plan, Advanced Wood Construction Action Plan, which positions Ontario to lead the fast-growing sector by using more wood in the construction of mid-rise and tall multi-family residential, commercial and industrial buildings. Advanced wood construction assembles building materials off-site before installation, reducing on-site disruption, completing projects up to 50 percent faster and reducing costs by up to 20 percent. Advanced wood construction also offers environmental benefits, by using wood as a sustainable alternative to traditional building materials while supporting the forestry sector. Govt. of Ontario

The Government of British Columbia is investing $2 million to establish the Battery Innovation Centre (BIC) at the University of British Columbia’s Okanagan campus ((UBCO). The BIC facility – expected to be ready for use by late 2026 – is the first of its kind in Western Canada and will offer testing and scaling up for next-generation battery technologies. BIC is part of UBCO’s Cleantech Hub, established with federal government funding in 2021. BIC will support regional economic development, including battery recycling and metal processing in the Kootenays, battery manufacturing in the Lower Mainland, and critical mineral mining throughout B.C. By fostering academic-industry collaborations, the Centre will help secure B.C.’s position as a leader in the clean energy economy, the provincial government said. BIC will further support CleanBC’s electrification goals and B.C.’s Critical Mineral Strategy. Using locally available materials like sulphur from mining and oil refineries, and tellurium recycled from smelting wastes, the project follows a “circular battery economy” model, reducing reliance on overseas critical minerals, supporting North American energy security and strengthening domestic production. UBCO

The Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario (FedNor) announced an investment of $999,620, so the LaCloche Manitoulin Business Assistance Corporation (LAMBAC) can continue to deliver the Northern Ontario Women (NOW) program across Northern Ontario. The NOW program provides a maximum of $5,000 to women-owned and -led small businesses to help cover the cost of professional and training services so they can start up or take their businesses to the next level. The goal of this pan-Northern project is to address challenges facing women entrepreneurs, particularly filling a gap in rural areas where services and training are not offered or affordable on an individual basis. Led by LAMBAC, NOW is supported by all 24 of Northern Ontario’s Community Futures Development Corporations, which help promote the program and deliver local training events in their service areas. Since 2019, NOW has supported close to 400 women-owned and led businesses, which led to the expansion and modernization of more than 260 firms and helped create over 300 full-time jobs in Northern Ontario. FedNor

The Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) announced a contribution of $950,000 to Halifax-based Sustane Technologies Inc. This support helped Sustane develop, test and certify a synthetic naphtha fuel from single-use and end-of life plastics which would otherwise be sent to local landfills. Sustane’s recycled fuel, which is made without combustion, can be sold and exported to petrochemical companies to use in place of fossil fuels when creating new plastics. Sustane can generate up to 1,000 litres of this product from a tonne of otherwise unusable, non-recyclable, landfill-destined plastic. The company’s processing facility can recycle 70,000 tonnes of household waste per year. Ninety percent of the household waste Sustane diverts from landfills is turned into alternative fuels and fertilizers. This circular supply chain helps lower carbon emissions and divert waste from landfills by turning it into a commercial product for resale. ACOA

Federal Budget 2025 requires “modest and targeted” investments to support indirect costs of research, digital infrastructure and international collaboration: U15

The U15 Canada group of 15 research-intensive universities is recommending “modest and targeted investments” in Budget 2025, given the $3.5 billion in federal funding for research committed to in Budget 2024.

In a pre-budget submission to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance, U15 said its recommendations “seek to build on the important research investments in [Budget 2024] to maximize their impact on the Canadian research ecosystem.”

U15’s submission outlines modest and targeted investments in digital research infrastructure, international engagement through Horizon Europe, and support toward the indirect costs of research, including research security.

Canada’s universities face significant financial pressures from declining provincial funding, tuition freezes, and caps on international student visas, U15’s submission notes.

Indirect costs represent more than 40 percent of research grant amounts, “yet Canada drastically underfunds these costs compared to peer countries.”

Canada’s funding formula also disadvantages larger, research-intensive universities by providing higher percentages of support to smaller institutions, the submission says. For example, the University of Toronto receives around 18 percent in indirect cost support, while small institutions receive upwards of 80 percent. “This leaves Canada’s globally competitive institutions at a significant disadvantage domestically and internationally.”

U15’s submission notes that the federal government introduced the Research Security Fund in Budget 2022, providing $125 million over five years to support research security activities and reflect the costs of applying the National Security Guidelines for Research Partnerships. This funding has been vital in expanding the capacity of research universities to develop robust policies and practices, U15 says.

However, additional federal measures, including the Policy on Sensitive Technology Research and Affiliations of Concern, “mean this funding is insufficient and problematically not available to every institution.”

In lieu of limited resources, research-intensive institutions have acted as critical hubs, sharing information and expertise with smaller institutions to enhance overall research security capabilities. U15 Canada recommends building on this approach so that every institution can benefit from administrative support for implementing research security policies.

Also, the investments in Budget 2024 did not explicitly announce complementary investments in the Research Support Fund and Incremental Program Grants. These have characteristically been added at a rate of 25 percent on new investments made in the granting agencies.

“We cannot afford to undermine the competitiveness of our institutions further by inadvertently eroding this crucial source of funding for Canada’s research universities,” U15 says.

In terms of building Canada’s digital infrastructure, despite Budget’s 2024’s $2-billion investment to initiate the new AI Compute Access Fund and AI Sovereign Compute Strategy, only five to 15 percent of the country's 67,000 academic researchers currently have access to national high-performance computing host sites, the submission says.

Canada’s computing capabilities represent only 0.7 percent of global compute performance and just four percent of the capacity of a single exascale compute system in Europe or the U.S.

Canada has made significant investments in strategic research areas such as artificial Intelligence, quantum technologies and advanced research computing, the submission notes.

“To truly capitalize on these investments, it is critical that Budget 2025 invests in strong compute and data capabilities for the pan-Canadian digital ecosystem. Without renewed investment, Canada risks losses in data sovereignty, intellectual property, and the capacity to address critical domestic challenges effectively while ensuring that Canada is a competitive location for research and innovation.”

U15 recommends that Budget 2025 invest in:

• National critical infrastructure: Recognizing digital research infrastructure as essential infrastructure to ensure secure and sovereign compute and data resources.
• Holistic integration: Maximizing the benefits of national investments for society and the economy by equipping researchers in Canada with robust digital research infrastructure.

Specifically, Canada requires three areas of investment over five years to secure its digital research infrastructure and competitive global position:

• Capital investment to enhance Canada’s compute and data capabilities.
• Planning and strategy funding to support planning for exascale compute capabilities and a comprehensive data strategy.
• Operational funding annually from 2025 to 2030 to maintain and support essential resources and personnel

On the international front, U15’s submission says Horizon Europe, the European Union’s major funding program for research and innovation, represents a significant opportunity for Canada to advance scientific collaboration with likeminded peers.

With a sizeable funding allocation of over €95 billion for the period 2021-2027, the program will help tackle some of the most pressing challenges facing Canada and Europe today.

The associated country status with Horizon Europe Pillar Two provides Canadian researchers with unparalleled access to leading-edge collaborations and technologies, amplifying their impact on critical global issues such as health, climate change, and digital transformation, the submission says.

“Given the significant opportunities presented by involvement in Horizon Europe and the complexity of navigating the program, it is essential that we ensure the initiative is well-supported and resourced through operational and implementation processes.”

Adequate support for a secretariat will be crucial in establishing capacity to facilitate Canadian researchers' access to Horizon, enabling them to fully realize the potential of this international collaboration, U15 says. Its submission recommends:

• Allocate adequate resources to ensure the program secretariat is well-positioned to support Canadian success. This funding will empower the secretariat to assist Canadian researchers and innovators in accessing and maximizing opportunities within Horizon Europe.
• Establish a strategically positioned presence in Brussels through the program secretariat. This would serve as an early information node on project calls and a platform to influence upcoming funding decisions. U15

RESEARCH, TECH NEWS & COLLABORATION

The top three Canadian Universities for producing the most chief executive officers are McGill University, Queen’s University and Western University, according to a report by London, U.K.-based Immerse Education. For McGill, 9,603 alumni – or 4.26 percent – are now or have been CEOs of a company. Queen’s University ranked No. 2 with 6,178 CEOs, or 4.02 percent of alumni taking on the CEO role at some point after graduating. Western University ranked No. 3 with 6,409 CEOs, or 3.35 percent of alumni. No Canadian university made it into the top 30 universities globally producing CEOs, where the top three are Stanford University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Princeton University. To determine the universities that produce the most CEOs, Immerse Education created a seed list of top-rated universities from around the world, as well as specific seed lists for universities in the U.K., the U.S., Australia, and Canada. For each university on the seed list, they found the number of alumni and number of CEOs via LinkedIn data. The percentage of alumni who have become CEOs was then calculated for each university. Immerse Education

Alberta Innovates awarded a total of $1.1 million in grants to research teams at the University of Alberta, University of Calgary and Calgary-based private company LWR Technologies to sponsor research supporting Alberta’s agricultural sector. Each project is designed to open new markets or develop technologies that will save producers money and increase crop yields. The projects are:

• $317,000 for University of Alberta researchers developing better ways to incorporate cannabidiol (CBD) into products such as lotions or water-based products including food and beverages. Using nanotechnology for encapsulation, the research aims to make oils more soluble in water, preventing separation. The project uses CBD oils as a framework, due to their nutritional and health benefits. The research aims to develop new formulations for food and skin applications, helping the cannabis sector grow by tapping into new markets and demand.
• $350,000 for quantum dot technology research at the University of Calgary developing new light-filtering films that can be applied to outdoor greenhouse exteriors. These films filter sunlight to block harmful ultraviolet wavelengths and focus more visible light waves to reach plants growing inside at all times of the year. By filtering light, it boosts growing conditions and plant production. Early research with tomato plants has shown a 19-percent  increase in yield and 15-percent faster growth. 
• $500,000 for LWR Technologies, with research support from the University of Calgary Sensor Lab, to continue development of real-time wireless fertilizer monitoring through radio frequency-microwave sensors. The sensor is designed to measure nutrients in water and fertilizer distribution systems in real time, eliminating the need for lab-based testing. This would allow farmers to optimize fertilization and irrigation practices for improved crop growth. Alberta Innovates

The Edmonton-based nonprofit Canadian Agri-Food Automation and Intelligence Network (CAAIN) launched its fourth open competition, a $6-million initiative designed to support projects that tackle automation and robotics in agri-food production and processing. The competition also will support data-based decision-making tools that can reduce risk or optimize production, and projects that contribute to the implementation of a smart farm platform or smart farm networks. CAAIN can contribute up to $3 million to a single project. Details of the program are available online. Project application forms must be received no later than 4:59 p.m. on August 9, 2024. Federally backed CAAIN’s mandate from Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada is to fund technological responses to the most significant opportunities and challenges facing the nation’s agri-food producers and primary processors. In almost four years of operation, CAAIN has approved 35 projects whose combined total value exceeds $100 million. CAAIN

The Calgary-based Aerospace Accelerator Program has opened its first round of funding. The program is funded by Calgary Economic Development’s Opportunity Calgary Investment Fund and Prairies Economic Development Canada, and supported by inaugural industry partners including WestJet, Calgary Airport Authority, and Chapter AI Ventures. The program takes early-stage startups with technology-driven solutions to important problems and adds funding, technology development resources, professional development training and expert support. Up to $200,000 in grant funding is offered, including salary support for one founder. Applicants must fill out an online application form by 11:59 p.m. on September 30, 2024. Innovate Calgary

The Government of Canada and the U.S. government concluded “substantive negotiations” for a Technology Safeguards Agreement (TSA). The Canada-United States TSA, upon its entry into force, will establish the legal and technical safeguards needed to allow the use of U.S. space launch technology, expertise and data for space launches in Canada while ensuring the proper handling of sensitive U.S. technology. Enabling Canadian space launch capability will support the growth of the commercial space launch industry in Canada, while providing new opportunities for the sector and encouraging innovation and research. Both sides will now carry out a final review of the negotiated text and seek to obtain necessary domestic authorizations for the signing of the agreement. In 2021, the Canadian space sector contributed over $2.8 billion to Canada’s GDP and over 11,600 jobs to the Canadian economy. Global Affairs Canada

TC Energy Corporation (TC) in Calgary announced an equity interest purchase agreement, for a gross purchase price of $1 billion, with an Indigenous-owned investment partnership to acquire a minority equity interest of 5.34 percent in TC’s pipelines. The deal is Canada’s largest Indigenous equity ownership agreement. The agreement is backed by the Alberta Indigenous Opportunities Corporation, and was negotiated by a consortium committee representing specific Indigenous communities across Alberta, B.C. and Saskatchewan. This results in an implied enterprise value of approximately $1.65 billion for TC’s NGTL and Foothills pipeline networks and infrastructure. The networks transport natural gas from northeast B.C., Alberta and Saskatchewan to customers across North America. The 72 Indigenous communities along the pipelines’ 25,000-kilometre path will be eligible to participate. The Alberta Indigenous Opportunities Corporation will provide the communities with a $1-billion equity loan guarantee to support the newly-formed Indigenous-owned investment partnership. Once finalized, the communities will enter into definitive agreements as co-investors in the partnership assets through the Indigenous-owned investment partnership. A member of the participating communities will be invited to join TC Energy’s Indigenous Advisory Council, formed in 2021 to guide the company’s executive leadership team on reconciliation-related initiatives to support resilient Indigenous communities. TC Energy

Calgary-based Computer Modelling Group Ltd. (CMG), a global software and consulting company, announced that its carbon capture and storage (CCS) solution was selected by Sval Energi AS to support the Trudvang project, located in the Norwegian North Sea. The Trudvang project involves capturing CO₂ from several industrial emission sources in Northern Europe and transporting it, either via ships or pipeline, to the Trudvang site for injection and permanent storage beneath the seabed. The project has the potential to store nine million tons of CO₂ annually and is targeting to start storing CO₂ in 2029. The project’s success hinges on integrating every facet of the CCS value chain, from subsurface to surface, to ensure reliable, risk-free, CO₂ storage and operational excellence. CMG’s solution  combines reservoir simulation, geochemistry and geomechanics, steady-state and transient wellbore analysis, and surface pipeline network simulation into one comprehensive, interactive CO₂ model. CMG said this integrated approach provides a holistic view of the entire CO₂ storage process, allowing operators to optimize the design and operation of storage sites, ensuring that CO₂ is injected safely and stored permanently. CMG

A group of landowners in Saskatchewan is opposed to the planned Seven Stars wind energy project in southeast Saskatchewan. The project, announced in June, would be one of the province’s – and Canada’s – largest wind farms. Enbridge and six local First Nations representing about 25 percent of Saskatchewan’s Indigenous population plan to erect as many as 50 200-metre tall wind turbines spread across three rural municipalities. The wind farm would be capable of generating 200 megawatts of electricity – enough to power 100,000 homes – starting in 2027. Under the agreement, First Nations can participate for up to 30 percent of the project, through a $100-million loan guarantee from the provincial government’s Saskatchewan Indigenous Investment Finance Corp. About 100 local landowners showed up at a Weyburn hotel, with concerns that included health and noise, to the impacts on migratory birds and sourcing of materials and equipment from China. Some complained the turbines will be the tallest structures on the prairie, visible from 50 kilometres away. Saskatchewan doesn’t have any regulatory requirements for wind turbines, and project developer Enbridge has said it would follow Alberta Utilities Commission guidelines announced earlier this year. To date, 1,600 people have signed a petition calling for the project to be rejected. The opposition group will take its case to a meeting of the Weyburn council on August 14. Western Standard

The Government of Alberta’s seven-month moratorium on approvals for new renewable energy projects resulted in 33 cancelled projects and no new project proposals since the moratorium was lifted in February 2024, according to a report by the Pembina Institute, a Calgary-based clean energy think tank. After the United Conservative Party government announced the moratorium on August 3, 2023, there was an initial surge in project applications seeking to be grandfathered under previous rules. After this initial rush, new applications appear to have reached a standstill, with only 13 megawatts proposed since August 31, 2023. Fifty-three projects representing 8,630 megawatts of potential generation capacity have withdrawn applications from Alberta’s electricity generation development process since the moratorium was first announced, the report says. This includes 33 cancelled projects that were at some point in the development process prior to the start of the moratorium. “These 33 projects could have produced the same amount of power as is used by 98 percent of Alberta homes in a year.” Another 42 projects have delayed their in-service date by an average of 15 months. The Alberta government has yet to provide an official map outlining where new projects can be approved. Taking into account project development and construction timelines, most of the moratorium's impacts on the sector's growth won't be seen until 2025 when fewer renewable energy projects are built, the Pembina Institute said. Nathan Neudorf, Alberta’ minister of affordability and utilities, called Pembina’s report “misinformation,” and he insisted that “Alberta continues to be a leader in renewable energy and a jurisdiction of choice for investors.” Meanwhile, Ontario has announced plans for 5,000 MW of wind and solar over the next decade. Nova Scotia has committed to getting 80 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2030. Hydro-Québec says it will add 10,000 MW of new wind capacity to its network by 2035. In April, BC Hydro called for bids to add about three million megawatt-hours by 2028. Pembina Institute, Canadian Press

Germans are studding rooftops and balcony railings with lightweight plug-and-play solar panels that are adding up to sizeable power production. Each of the lightweight panels – most of them made in China – produces only enough electricity to charge a laptop or run a small refrigerator. But in homes across Germany, they are bringing the green revolution into the hands of people without requiring them to make a large investment, find an electrician or use heavy tools. “You just hang them from the balcony like wet laundry in Italy,” retiree Waltraud Berg told The New York Times. More than 500,000 of the systems have already been set up across Germany, and new laws that relaxed rules around solar panel installation have contributed to a boom in use. The panels have contributed to an increase of 9,000 megawatts of solar capacity across Germany in just the first half of 2024, according to the Federal Network Agency, a German regulator. New York Times

VC, PRIVATE INVESTMENT & ACQUISITIONS

Toronto- and Orlando, Fla.-based Arcadea Group, which is focused on acquiring vertical software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies, raised $336 million in its most recent funding round, which saw strong support from existing investors. Investors include medical conglomerate Danaher Corp co-founder Mitch Rales, private capital investors Ed McGuire and Ian McDermott, and Sator Grove Holdings. Arcadea is centered on investing in bootstrapped, founder-controlled SaaS businesses primarily located in North America, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, targeting companies generating between $1 million and $20 million in annual recurring revenues. Scholars International Institute of Technology

Quebec City-based UgoWork, which develops and manufacturers lithium-ion batteries for materials-handling equipment such as forklifts, raised $51 million as part of its Series C financing. This investment round was led by Fonds de solidarité FTQ, with participation from returning investors Investissement Québec, Export Development Canada, and includes a new $25-million credit facility from Desjardins Technology & Innovation Banking. UgoWork said its integrated hardware and cloud software enables clients to achieve cost savings by reducing the equipment needed to run their operations. UgoWork said the funding will be used to grow the company’s go-to-market efforts, extend its global distribution footprint, accelerate the development of its software and hardware platforms, and expand its headquarters and main production facility. UgoWork

Hamilton-based Afynia Laboratories, led by former McMaster University research scientists Lauren Foster and Jocelyn Wessels, has raised $2 million to bring its microRNA-based endometriosis test, EndomiR, to market. The funding round was backed by Capital Angel Network, SOSV, Gaingels, Aventura, and McMaster University’s Seed Fund. Afynia aims to improve endometriosis diagnosis, which currently takes an average of seven years. EndomiR uses a single blood sample to detect endometriosis with over 90 percent accuracy for high- and low-risk patients, providing a faster, less invasive alternative to current diagnostic methods. The company is participating in a grant-funded, Canadian Institutes of Health Research study of 1,000 patients alongside McMaster University, which Foster expects will provide further clinical validity for EndomiR in comparison to diagnoses made on the basis of imaging or surgery. Decoder, BetaKit

Charlottetown, P.E.I-based Tractile raised $575,000 in a pre-seed funding round  led by BDC Capital’s Seed Venture Fund and Island Capital Partners, with participation from the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation. Tracktile offers cloud-based manufacturing software and integrated hardware tailored specifically for the food and beverage industry. The platform provides comprehensive solutions for inventory management, production planning, and real-time operational visibility with data analysis. Tractile said the funding will enable the company to accelerate its product development, expand its team, and scale its operations to meet growing market demand. Tractile

Vancouver-based venture capital firm Raven Indigenous Capital Partners announced it established an office in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with an institutional investment from the New Mexico Finance Authority’s Venture Capital Program. Raven is the only Indigenous-led and owned impact investment firm in North America. The company plans to hire two additional U.S.-based investment team members over the next few months. Raven Indigenous Capital Partners

Toronto-based Brookfield Management has agreed to acquire London, U.K.-headquartered nVent’s thermal management business for US$1.7 billion in cash. nVent expects net after-tax proceeds from the transaction to be approximately $1.4 billion and intends to use the proceeds for acquisitions and share repurchases. nVent’s thermal management business, which operates mainly under the Raychem brand, provides heat-tracing management systems for infrastructure and commercial properties, including multi-residential buildings, around the world. nVent has two Canadian locations, in Trenton, Ont. and Edmonton. nVent said the transaction creates a more focused portfolio for the company. nVent

Toronto-based healthtech firm VitalHub Corporation has agreed to acquire Toronto-based MedCurrent Corp. for up to $34 million. This includes a cash payment of approximately $12 million at closing and an earn-out consideration of up to a maximum of just over $21.8 million based on annual performance over the next 36 months. TSX-listed VitalHub is a software company whose suite of software-as-a-service solutions for health and human services providers includes electronic health records, patient journey optimization, and workforce automation. MedCurrent’s clinical decision support platform enables real-time, evidence-based guidelines to be integrated at the point of care, enhancing health and health care delivery. VitalHub said MedCurrent’s platform will complement VitalHub’s existing software suite. The deal will make MedCurrent a wholly owned subsidiary of VitalHub. Morrison Park Advisors

California-based Studio Designer, a business management software platform for interior designers, acquired Ottawa-based Mydoma, a project management and design business platform that enables interior designers to create and track project tasks, budgets and contracts. Financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. Studio Designer features integrated project management, time-billing, and payment solutions with a full general ledger accounting system. By acquiring Mydoma, Studio Designer said the two companies will support nearly 20,000 interior designers across the U.S. and Canada. Studio Designer

REPORTS & POLICIES

Focus on procuring R&D in setting legislated targets for federal government procurement from SMEs, policy group says

Setting legislated targets for federal government procurement from small and medium-sized Canadian businesses can help drive innovation but only if the focus is on procuring research and development, says the Centre for Canadian Innovation and Competitiveness.

Budget 2024 announced the federal government’s intention to explore legislated procurement targets for SMEs and innovative firms, including consultations with industry stakeholders, and innovation organizations. Innovation, Science and Economic Canada (ISED) began the consultation process in June.

Public sector procurement has the potential to help boost Canadian technological innovation, the Ottawa-based Centre, an affiliate of the Washington-D.C.-based Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a nonprofit science and technology policy think tank, said in a submission to ISED.

As the largest employer and organization in Canada, the federal government can serve as the basis for innovative ideas to become both commercialized and commercially viable, with the government serving as an important testbed and early market, the Centre said.

The Centre pointed to the U.S. Small Business Innovation Research Program (SBIR) that has helped many U.S. tech startups to commercialize and become highly successful scale-ups. SBIR is an R&D program first and foremost, the Centre noted.

Canada’s legislated targets should be innovation-focused and not merely constitute a subsidy for small businesses, Lawrence Zhang, head of policy at the Centre, wrote in the submission.

“To put it bluntly, allowing departments to meet their legislated targets by simply procuring more pencils and desks sourced from small businesses will not drive innovation, but it will reduce productivity, because by definition, departments will not be buying from the cheapest and best value provider.”

The Centre said the issues that the government’s Innovation Solutions Canada (ISC) program faced – including not meeting procurement targets for government departments – that will be partially addressed by legislated targets include:

• The expectations for procurement officers that procurement for non-procurement objectives [such as supporting innovation] generally take a backseat to delivering value for money.
• A long-standing lack of clarity on whether innovation procurement violates existing trade agreements between Canada and other countries.
• Line departments sometimes not having the capacity to properly engage with the tech companies to determine whether a proposal involves a feasible solution, or to address challenges surrounding intellectual property.
• Line departments not having the money to fund ISC projects they have committed to.

The federal government decided, in Budget 2023, to scale down spending on the ISC program by $28.4 million in 2024-25 and $70 million annually ongoing starting in 2025-2026, with savings achieved through reduced contributions to the program from participating departments across government.

The Centre’s submission pointed out that the ISC program faces a great deal of institutional difficulty in reconciling the objectives of procurement officers – getting goods and services for the lowest possible price – with the need to use procurement as a tool to support social and broader economic objectives, like supporting innovation.

“By legislated mandatory targets for SME procurement, this will provide an institutional reason for procurement teams to cooperate on SME procurement.”

These legislated targets should first be implemented in the 10 largest departments to ensure that any issues are addressed, and capacity is managed before rolling out the targets across the federal government, the Centre suggested.

In order to succeed, the government also needs to address, once and for all, whether innovation procurement programs run counter to trade agreements that Canada has with other countries, the Centre said.

Delays encountered when seeing ISC projects through often relate to internal disagreements on the trade issue. If there is no trade issue, or if Canada comfortable feels there will be no retaliatory action from other countries due to them having similar programs (e.g. U.S. SBIR, UK Contracts for Innovation), then clarification needs to be shared across government on the matter, the Centre said.

If there is indeed a trade issue in agreements like the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement or the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, then a potential solution could be to allow companies from countries that Canada has a free trade agreement with to participate in the program and seek to secure reciprocal access to other programs in other countries as well.

In addition, the Centre’s submission said, the federal government will need to identify some department or team that will be able to provide greater support to line departments during the ISC process. Some departments may not possess the expertise or capacity to determine the feasibility of the proposed solutions or to be able to engage with the companies involved to adequately lay out requirements or changes.

In the interest of preventing the duplication of labour, this support does not necessarily need to be mandatory, the Centre said. If the Department of National Defense, for instance, (which has never come close to meeting its spending obligations under the ISC program) feels that they do not need this kind of support, then they can certainly choose to forego this support, the Centre suggested.

To address the issue of departments not actually allocating the appropriate funds to ISC projects, the legislated targets could also lay out a requirement that departments have money set aside when setting out ISC tenders, the Centre recommended. Centre for Canadian Innovation and Competitiveness

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Canada’s deteriorating GDP growth per person among 30 advanced economies will worsen without immediate policy action: study

Canada had the third-lowest growth in GDP per person from 2014 to 2022 among 30 advanced economies, according to a new study published by the Fraser Institute.

“In terms of GDP per person, a broad measure of living standards, Canada’s performance has weakened substantially in recent years,” study co-author Alex Whalen, director of the Fraser Institute’s Atlantic Canada Prosperity Initiative, said in a statement.

The independent public policy think examined Canada’s historic and projected GDP per capita growth compared to similar OECD countries.

The study found that from 2002 to 2014, Canadian income growth as measured by GDP per person roughly kept pace with the rest of the OECD, but from 2014 to 2022 Canada’s growth rate stagnated.

In 2002, Canada’s GDP per capita was higher than the OECD average by US$3,141. By 2022, it had fallen well below the OECD average by US$231.

Canada lost ground compared with key allies and trading partners such as the U.S., U.K., New Zealand, and Australia between 2014 and 2022.

For example, Canadian GDP per person in 2014 was $44,710 (80.4 percent of the US total of $55,605), but by 2022, Canada was only at $46,035 versus $63,685 in the U.S.

In other words, the gap had grown from $10,895 to $17,649 by 2022 (all measures in inflation-adjusted US dollars).

Canada’s average 0.6-percent growth rate from 2002 to 2022 tied the country with Austria and Japan, and was approximately half that of the growth rate in the U.K. and Australia, and one-third of the growth rate in the U.S.

“Canada has been experiencing a collapse in investment, low productivity growth, and a large and growing government sector, all of which contribute to reduced growth in living standards compared to our peer countries in the OECD,” said study co-author Lawrence Schembri, a senior fellow with the Fraser Institute.

The third co-author of the study is Milagro Palacios, director for the Addington Centre for Management at the Fraser Institute.

Looking forward to 2060, Canada’s projected average annual growth rate for GDP per capita (0.78 percent) is the lowest among 30 OECD countries, according to the study.

Canada’s GDP per capita (after adjusting by inflation), which exceeded the OECD average by US$3,141 in 2002 and was roughly equivalent to the OECD average in 2022, is projected to fall below the OECD average by US$8,617 in 2060.

Canada once had a standard of living well above the OECD average as measured by GDP per capita, but “this lead has been squandered in recent years,” the study said.

According to the study, the root cause of Canada’s declining long-term growth in GDP per capita – both recent and projected – is very low or negative growth in labour productivity reflecting weak investment in physical and human capital per worker.

This weak trend growth in both physical and human capital per worker is driven by “dismal investment trends” in both human and especially physical (non-residential) capital growth, trends in immigration, and subdued technological innovation and adoption that increases the efficiency of labour, the study noted.

“Closing the gap with the OECD will require bold and comprehensive policy changes, given Canada’s dismal outlook,” the study said. “A return to even historical norms, let alone fully closing the GDP with the OECD, would be a massive challenge.”

The study said a few of the actions that should be undertaken immediately are: boosting productivity through reduced regulation and barriers to international and interprovincial trade (including improved labour mobility); encouraging innovation and entrepreneurship; tax reform aimed at improved tax competitiveness; and a stronger investment climate; and reducing the size of government. Fraser Institute

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Percentage of Canadian businesses conducting innovation activities declined in 2022: StatsCan

The proportion of Canadian businesses conducting innovation activities declined to 47.2 percent in 2022, down from 52.5 percent in 2019, according to a Statistics Canada (StatsCan) report.

Marketing and brand equity activities linked to innovation recorded the largest decline, down from 25.3 percent in 2019 to 19.9 percent in 2022, StatsCan’s 2022 Survey of Innovation and Business Strategy found.

StatsCan, which has been examining various aspects of the survey’s findings in recent periodic reports, released its latest report on July 31.

This overall decline in Canadian businesses’ innovation activities was somewhat countered by two activities that increased over this period: software development and database activities (from 19.9 percent in 2019 to 24.7 percent in 2022) and intellectual property activities (from nine  percent in 2019 to 11.9 percent in 2022).

Other innovation activities included: employee training specifically for innovation projects (22.6 percent); research and development (20.9 percent); and the acquisition or development of advanced technology (19.1 percent).

The ranking of the propensity to conduct innovation activities across business size groups did not change in 2022 from 2019, StatsCan said. Large businesses (66.5 percent) continued to be the most likely to conduct innovation activities, followed by medium-sized businesses (53.7 percent) and small businesses (45 percent).

Innovation activities are important across a range of industrial activities. In 2022, information and cultural industries (67.8 percent) had the highest propensity to conduct innovation activities among sectors, followed by manufacturing (64.5 percent), professional, scientific and technical services (62.7 percent), and utilities (58.3 percent).

Businesses with deeper transnational relationships seemed to be more likely to engage in innovation activities in 2022, and multinational businesses were more likely to conduct innovation activities than non-multinational businesses.

In 2022, more than six in 10 multinational businesses (66.9 percent) conducted innovation activities, compared with approximately four in 10 non-multinational businesses (44.2 percent).

In addition, the propensity to conduct innovation activities was higher among Canadian multinational businesses (78.9 percent) than foreign multinational businesses (61.6 percent) operating in Canada.

Innovation activities are strongly associated with innovation, StatsCan noted. In fact, nine in 10 businesses (89.9 percent) that conducted innovation activities in 2022 introduced an innovation in the 2020-to-2022 period. This proportion falls to approximately one in two businesses (55.7 percent) for those that did not conduct innovation activities.

Filing for IP protection is a key innovation activity. Businesses that conducted innovation activities in 2022 were more apt to file to protect at least one type of IP during the 2020-to-2022 period compared with businesses that did not conduct innovation activities.

More than one in five businesses (20.7 percent) that conducted innovation activities in 2022 filed for IP protection over the 2020-to-2022 period, compared with just 3.5 percent of businesses that did not conduct innovation activities.

Businesses engaged in innovation activities in 2022 were also more likely to have received government support for innovation-related activities during the 2020-to-2022 period. The rate at which businesses used government programs to support innovation-related activities was over twice as high among businesses that conducted innovation activities in 2022 (50 percent) compared with those that did not (19.9 percent).

In 2022, businesses involved in international trade were more innovative than businesses that were not involved. Nearly eight in 10 businesses (79.9 percent) that either imported or exported goods or services were innovative, compared with 63.8 percent of businesses that neither imported nor exported.

However, the proportion of businesses that engaged in international trade modestly declined in 2022 (50.1 percent) compared with 2019 (54.3 percent).

Nearly three in 10 businesses (29.1 percent) sold goods or services outside of Canada in 2022, compared with 30.6 percent in 2019. Over four in 10 businesses (44 percent) purchased goods or services from outside of Canada in 2022, down from 47.8 percent in 2019.

Large businesses are more adept at competing in the global market due to their significant resources, established networks, access to capital and greater capacity for innovation, StatsCan said.

In 2022, over half (52.3 percent) of large businesses sold goods or services outside of Canada, compared with one in four small businesses (26.5 percent).

Large businesses were also more likely to engage in import activities compared with smaller businesses. Just over seven in 10 (70.7 percent) large businesses imported goods or services, while 41.3 percent of small businesses did so.

In 2022, the manufacturing sector (60.2 percent) and the information and cultural industries sector (59.7 percent) had the highest proportions of businesses reporting export activities, while the construction sector (five percent) and the retail trade sector (7.4 percent) had the lowest proportions of businesses involved in export activities.

The wholesale trade sector (74.1 percent) and the manufacturing sector (71.8 percent) reported the highest proportions of businesses engaging in import activities.

Supply chain challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and aggravated by the ongoing conflict in Ukraine since 2022 triggered additional obstacles for Canadian exporting businesses.

A higher proportion of these businesses reported external barriers related to the global supply chain in 2022 compared with 2019. Shipping costs, the pandemic and transportation infrastructure barriers were the top three obstacles to exporting reported as either difficult or very difficult.

The proportion of exporting businesses citing shipping costs as a significant barrier reached 32.2 percent in 2022, up from 18.8 percent in 2019.

Exporting businesses were also more likely to report transportation infrastructure barriers in 2022, increasing 9.2 percentage points from 7.2 percent in 2019 to 16.4 percent in 2022.

Nearly three in 10 exporting businesses (27.3 percent) reported the pandemic as a difficult or very difficult obstacle in 2022. StatsCan

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Canadian organizations paying more than $6.3 million per data breach: IBM report

Canadian organizations are paying an average $6.32 million per data breach in 2024, according to a report from IBM.

 That’s a decline in cost from last year’s $6.94 million and $7.05 million in 2022, IBM’s annual Cost of a Data Breach report says. “Despite this reduction, the costs remain substantial, with significant impacts on business operations.”

The trend of improvement reflects the effectiveness of enhanced security measures, with 61 percent of Canadian companies now deploying AI and security automation to prevent and combat breaches, according to the report.

The average number of records breached in Canada reached an all-time high of 27,300, up from 25,750 last year, and 25,600 in 2022.

Financial services and technology companies see the highest breach costs. By far the most impacted across Canada, the country’s financial sector is paying $9.28 million on average per breach.

The technology sector is paying $7.84 million on average, and the industrial sector follows close behind at $7.81 million.

The use of AI to identify and contain a breach shortens its lifecycle and reduces costs, the report notes. Nearly two-thirds (61 percent) of Canadian organizations studied are deploying AI and security automation across their organization.

Organizations that used AI and automation in their security operations had breach lifecycles that were 42 days shorter and cost $1.7 million less on average than those without such technologies.

Organizations with extensive use of AI and security automation (31 percent) report costs of 2.84 million less and 54-day shorter breach lifecycles.

Phishing, involving stolen or compromised credentials, is the most common attack type, representing 14 percent of breaches experienced by Canadian companies and costing $6.38 million on average.

The most financially devastating but less common (nine percent) malicious insider breach costs $7.61 million.

Threat intelligence is the best way to reduce data breach costs, the report says. Canadian companies that combine this training with employee training, and identity and access management can significantly reduce the total cost of a breach.

Non-compliance with regulations is the top cost amplifier factor followed by security skills shortage and security system complexity.

Mixed environments and public cloud were the most vulnerable storage locations. Thirty-three percent of breaches took place across multiple environments, while 31 percent took place on a public cloud. Private cloud was the least affected, representing only 15 percent of breaches.

Breaches taking place over a public cloud were also the most expensive to remedy, at an average $6.74 million per breach. The mean time to identify and mean time to contain a breach was highest on data models across multiple environments and on public cloud.

IBM’s report is based on analysis of data breaches experienced by 604 organizations in 16 countries globally, between March 2023 and February 2024.

Canada had the sixth-highest average cost per data breach, coming behind the U.S., Germany and Italy.

Globally, more than half of breached organizations studied in the report are facing high levels of security staffing shortages – a 26.2-percent increase from last year. IBM

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Federal and Nova ScotIa governments release collaboration framework for clean energy development

The Government of Canada and the Government of Nova Scotia released The Nova Scotia Regional Energy and Resource Table Framework for Collaboration on the Path to Net Zero.

The Collaboration Framework identifies six areas of economic opportunity to pursue:  

• Carbon Management: Support the development of Nova Scotia’s carbon management sector, including CO₂ storage potential and technology development and deployment.

Nova Scotia is capable of not only capturing its own carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions but is also well-situated to develop offshore CO₂ storage capacity for neighbouring eastern provinces, including Ontario, and for the northeastern U.S.

Net Zero Atlantic, in partnership with Nova Scotia’s Department of Natural Resources and Renewables, has been awarded funding through Natural Resources Canada’s Office of Energy Research and Development to advance a carbon capture, utilization and storage roadmap for Atlantic Canada. The roadmap will focus on Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island, with leadership from Nova Scotia. In fall 2024, partners and stakeholders will meet for a roundtable discussion to help inform the roadmap’s development and scope focus areas for action.

• Clean Electricity: Support and help ensure an affordable and reliable phase-out of coal and transition to net-zero electricity.

Based on provincial and utility planning, priority projects required to phase out coal-fired electricity by 2030 and transition to clean energy could include installation of wind and solar, batteries and renewables integration.

This includes: developing effective control systems and processes for the safe and reliable operation of a clean energy grid to support the transition off coal; electrification and peak-load management; introduction of hydrogen-capable flex-fuel fast start generation; and continued advancement of a modified Atlantic Loop electricity transmission link connecting Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

• Critical Minerals: Accelerate the development of critical minerals to expedite Nova Scotia’s position as a competitive leader in the critical minerals industry to support clean energy and other essential value chains.

The intent is to focus efforts on 16 critical minerals of paramount importance to the province, including antimony, cobalt, copper, gallium, germanium, graphite, indium, lithium, manganese, molybdenum, niobium, rare earth elements, tantalum, tin, tungsten, and zinc. This provincial list will be reviewed every two years.

• Forest Bioeconomy: Sustainably develop Nova Scotia’s bioeconomy to advance the use and development of bioproducts, biofuels, bioenergy, and mass timber construction.

Canada and Nova Scotia intend to collaborate on three main pillars: increase value-add through development and use of forest bioproducts; advance the production and use of biofuels and bioenergy; and support the use of mass timber and off-site prefabrication techniques in construction.

• Hydrogen: Accelerate the production, export, and use of hydrogen to foster Nova Scotia’s position as a world leader.

Nova Scotia’s renewable energy resources, including onshore and proposed offshore wind projects, can be used to support the production of low- to zero-carbon fuels, such as green hydrogen, and derivatives such as ammonia and sustainable aviation fuel.

With global demand for clean hydrogen increasing, there is a significant opportunity for Nova Scotia to become an export hub to European markets. Nova Scotia has several large, deep-water harbours that are ideally located for exporting green hydrogen and its derivatives.

In addition, hydrogen could be used within Nova Scotia as stored energy or to help decarbonize hard-to-abate sectors.

• Marine Renewables: Advance necessary foundational knowledge and regulatory frameworks to support the development of Nova Scotia’s marine renewables industry.

Canada and Nova Scotia intend to collaborate on four main pillars: support Nova Scotia's position as a leader for offshore wind development in Canada; work together to support grid readiness for offshore wind energy; understand provincial needs for ports and related infrastructure; and advance and grow the tidal energy industry through collaborative efforts.

Both governments have undertaken preliminary work by creating a workplan to determine the levels of investment and effort required to integrate offshore wind into Atlantic Canada grids under current and future scenarios for the electricity system.

Ports and related infrastructure and an experienced supply and service sector in Nova Scotia are already playing a key role in the offshore wind industry, by serving as the base for specialized European vessels to transfer large components, change crews and take on supplies before heading to wind projects offshore of the northeastern U.S.

Novaporte, a transportation, logistics and green energy development in Cape Breton, N.S. plans to develop – with global logistics company Blue Water Shipping and equity partner Membertou First Nation –  a multi-use port facility to accommodate offshore wind marshalling and other marine services in Sydney.

Canada and Nova Scotia said they’re working to establish and maintain constructive, co-operative relationships based on mutual respect that lead to improved opportunities for Indigenous Peoples. This includes an acknowledgment that the integration of Indigenous perspectives is critical to realizing a low-carbon economy that is grounded in respect, recognition and reconciliation.

In this regard, the two governments collaborated closely on the development of the Collaborative Framework with Kwilmu’kw Maw-klusuaqn, which represents 11 Mi’kmaw communities under the Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi’kmaw Chiefs.

Over the past few years alone, Nova Scotia has seen the benefits of increased economic activity in these priority areas, which both the provincial and federal governments said they will continue to build on going forward.

Both governments committed to the Joint Policy Statement on Developing and Transmitting Clean, Reliable and Affordable Power in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, signed in October 2023,  which commits them to working actively together to ensure progress toward electricity systems that will be affordable, reliable and clean and will meet the requirements of the forthcoming federal Clean Electricity Regulation.

In line with this commitment, the federal government, in co-releasing the Collaborative Agreement, announced $192 million for clean energy projects and associated storage systems in Nova Scotia.

Other recent investments and progress toward these goals include 660 electric vehicle charging stations for Wolfville and Halifax, a $125-million investment in EverWind in Port Hawkesbury, $10 million earlier this month for electricity grid upgrades in Antigonish, and more. Natural Resources Canada

THE GRAPEVINE – News about people, institutions and communities

Kish Kappor will step down as CEO of Toronto-based Richardson Wealth, effective October 1, 2024. He will be succeeded by chief operating officer Dave Kelly, a respected and experienced leader in the wealth management industry who Kapoor attracted to the firm as part of his succession plan. Richardson Wealth also announced chief financial officer Tim Wilson’s decision to depart for a similar post at a private bank and trust company Peoples Group. With about $38 billion in assets as of July 31, Richardson Wealth is one of Canada’s largest independent wealth managers. Richardson Wealth

Boeing announced that its board of directors elected Robert K. "Kelly" Ortberg as the company's new president and CEO, effective August 8, 2024. Ortberg will also serve on Boeing's board of directors. He will succeed Dave Calhoun, who earlier this year announced his intention to retire from the company, having served as president and CEO since January 2020, and as a member of Boeing's board since 2009. Ortberg brings over 35 years of aerospace leadership to the CEO position. He began his career in 1983 as an engineer at Texas Instruments, and then joined Rockwell Collins in 1987 as a program manager and held increasingly important leadership positions at the company prior to becoming its president and CEO in 2013. After five years leading Rockwell Collins, he steered the company's integration with United Technologies and RTX until his retirement from RTX in 2021. There’s a growing list of federal probes into the beleaguered aircraft manufacturer, including a criminal investigation. Boeing

Canada’s Competition Bureau will host “Canada's Competition Summit 2024: Market Dynamics in the AI Era” on September 16, 2024. Held in Ottawa and virtually, this full-day event will bring together domestic and international competition authorities, regulators, businesses, non-governmental organizations, lawyers and academics. It will feature a virtual keynote speech by Lina Khan, chair of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. Expert panelists and speakers will discuss:

• The current AI landscape
• The impacts of AI on competition across markets
• International and domestic regulatory approaches.

In addition to the keynote, Summit 2024 will include two panels, a regulators roundtable and a debate. Canadians are invited to join the event virtually. To learn more about the agenda, speakers, and how to register, visit the Summit 2024 webpage. Competition Bureau

The Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (UQTR) announced it is the first transatlantic member of the European Energy Research Alliance (EERA), thanks to Canada's association with Horizon Europe's Pillar II. UQTR said this collaboration marks an important step to strengthen international cooperation in low-carbon energy research, opening up new opportunities for innovation and global partnerships. UQTR's expertise in renewable energies, particularly hydrogen and biomass, is recognized internationally. This membership of the EERA will stimulate collaborative efforts and foster synergies and mutual learning with other leading research institutions in Europe. The partnership is supported by the Québec Government Office in Brussels. UQTR

Men with elevated prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels can now take a new blood test to determine their risk for clinically significant prostate cancer and potentially avoid an unnecessary biopsy. The new test is the first product to launch based on technology developed at the University of Alberta and patented by spinoff company Nanostics. The technology measures levels of prostate cancer biomarkers in a patient’s blood sample, combines that data with their clinical information, then uses machine learning to generate a risk score that predicts the presence of clinically significant prostate cancer. The PSA blood test is the standard screen for prostate cancer. When a patient’s PSA is high, a biopsy is usually ordered to confirm the presence of cancer. However, an elevated PSA can sometimes be caused by non-cancerous factors such as age, infection or an enlarged prostate, as well as by lower-risk prostate cancer that may not require treatment. “The ClarityDX Prostate test will reduce the number of unnecessary prostate biopsies, which are invasive, uncomfortable and carry some risk,” says John Lewis, Bird Dogs Chair in Translational Oncology at the University of Alberta and CEO of Nanostics. In a paper published in Cancer Medicine, the Lewis team examined findings for 415 Alberta men who had been referred to urology clinics for biopsies based on a high PSA result between 2014 and 2017. The ClarityDX Prostate test predicted with 95-percent accuracy which patients had high-grade, clinically significant prostate cancer that would require treatment. Thirty-five per cent of the patients could have avoided the recommended biopsies because they did not have clinically significant cancer. In a separate paper published in npj Digital Medicine, a clinical validation study involving 3,448 men from Alberta, the U.S. and Czechia concluded that using ClarityDX Prostate could avoid up to 35 percent of unnecessary prostate biopsies. The study also compared the new tool with other commonly used risk calculators and the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood test alone, showing that it was three times more accurate at predicting the risk of clinically significant prostate cancer. University of Alberta 

A new biomarker tool developed by an international team of researchers – including at the University of Ottawa – promises to be useful in the growing field of aerospace medicine and help the health of astronauts. In a study published in Nature Communications, the researchers introduce the Space Omics and Medical Atlas (SOMA), a database of integrated data and sample repository from a diverse range of space missions, including from SpaceX and NASA. Space travel creates cellular, molecular and physiological shifts in astronauts. SOMA is expected to provide a much-needed biomedical profiling that can help tease out the short- and long-term health impacts of spaceflight. This will bring needed health monitoring, risk mitigation and countermeasures baseline data for upcoming lunar, Mars and exploration-class missions. It is meant to help keep astronauts and space travelers alive and healthy. The study was led by Eliah Overbey of Weill Cornell Medicine and the University of Austin. “This represents a breakthrough in the study of human adaptation and life in space. Since many of the changes in astronauts in space resemble those of people who are immobile in bed, these studies can be clinically relevant. The data are therefore important for future space exploration while also providing a correlation to people on Earth with limited mobility or who are bedridden before their rehabilitation,” said Dr. Guy Trudel, a co-author of the study, professor in the Faculty of Medicine at uOttawa, a rehabilitation physician and researcher at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute who has focused on space travel and its effects on the human immune system. uOttawa

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