TEC Edmonton and the Edmonton Economic Development Corporation are promoting an information & networking working session on Thursday morning, March 1, 2012, entitled “how to do business with the federal government” as well as details on the Canadian Innovation Commercialization Program (CICP)   For full details on the program and the meeting, please review the information  below   The CICP is a funding program that can be accessed for participating CICP federal government testing departments to test/ pilot new technologies offered by companies. For a general overview of government departments and contacts, OSME refers people to material managers:     This session is hosted by the Office of Small and Medium Enterprises (OSME),   an excellent resource for companies looking at federal government ministries as potential clients.   The 3rd call for CICP proposals is pending and the deadline will be announced shortly.     De ...

Last Friday, Feb. 17, 2012, AITF (Alberta Innovates - Technology  Futures) announced the appointment of Stephen Lougheed as its President and CEO. A fourth-generation Albertan, Lougheed has 35 years of experience in successfully building and growing technology-related profitable-growth businesses internationally and domestically. He has been a Director and Executive Chairman of Poynt Corporation (2004 – 2011); CEO, President and  then Board Chair of Sylogist Ltd. (2002 – 2006);  Petroleum Division President and Corporate Executive Vice President, QC Data International Ltd.; Executive Vice President, BW Technologies Ltd.;  Director Business Development, Office of the Chairman, ATCO Group of Companies Three businesses led by Lougheed have been recognized with Alberta Science and Technology (ASTech) Leadership Foundation awards for commercial achievement. In 2010 he received a personal ASTech Award in acknowledgement of his contributions to Alberta’s Science and Technology comm ...

TEC Edmonton is delighted to introduce two new key members of the team. Paul Braconnier joins TEC Edmonton as an Executive-In-Residence, assisting TEC Edmonton client companies in the fields of natural and health sciences. Noreen Hoskins comes on board as manager of TEC Edmonton’s new Entrepreneur Skills Development programs. By profession a chartered accountant, Paul spent the first 10 years of his career with a large international accounting firm, reviewing and assessing client's computer environments.  After five years in the manufacturing industry as a senior executive, he moved on to the software/service industry as VP Finance and Chief Financial Officer of a publicly traded company.  In 2000, Paul put his entrepreneurial skills to work when he joined a start-up clinical contract research organization with a proprietary electronic data capture system. Paul was president and CEO of Global IQ from 2000 until joining TEC Edmonton in 2012. “I’m here,” says Paul, “because of the opportuni ...

Medical researchers at the University of Alberta have discovered a promising new therapy for Huntington disease that restores lost motor skills and may delay or stop the progression of the disease based on lab model tests, says the lead researcher. Simonetta Sipione's team research was published last week in the peer-reviewed journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.  Because the new therapy uses a molecule already being used in clinical trials for other diseases, it could be used in a clinical trial for Huntington disease within the next one to two years. TEC Edmonton is helping Dr. Sipione commercialize her discovery, with patenting and researching possible partner companies.   “We didn’t expect to see such dramatic changes after administering this therapy,” said Simonetta Sipione, the Principal Investigator. “We expected to see improvement, but not complete restoration of motor skills. "When we saw this, we were jumping with excitement in the lab. This is ...

A reminder to any startup company or entrepreneur in Alberta: Deadlines for the TEC Edmonton-produced TEC VenturePrize Fast Growth, Student and NanoVenturePrize competitions are fast approaching. VenturePrize registration must be complete by Thursday, February 23, and the deadline for the submission of materials on which the competitions will be judged is Friday, February 24, by 4 p.m. In the Fast Growth Category, over $300,000 total in prizes are up for grabs. The grand winner from last year,  VibeDX Diagnostic Corporation, took home a prize package valued at $90,000 in combined cash and in-kind awards provided by TEC VenturePrize sponsors.  Student Prize winner lightPower had a prize package worth $9,000. The NanoVenture Prize package this year is valued at $150,000!!!    The VenturePrize finalists in the various categories will be judged during the 10th annual VenturePrize Gala evening, April 26, 2012 in the Shaw Conference Centre's Hall D here ...

  Passing on some info from the provincial Climate Change and Emissions Management Corporation (CCEMC), via the Alberta Council for Technologies website. Thirty-one small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are being invited to  submit full proposals to the CCEMC for funding to support clean technology projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions. A total of $10 million in funding is available.    To see Full Media release and Background, read more at theClimate Change and Emissions Management Corporation website.       

Lest anyone think new technologies are “overnight” successes, just take a look at Exciton Technologies Inc. Located here in Edmonton, in the TEC Centre on the fourth floor of the downtown Enterprise Square, Exciton has a patented silver-based wound dressing that the company says is more effective medically, is based on better technology, is less toxic, causes zero pain and is less expensive than the current world-wide competition. Exciton is relatively mature for a startup company. It has been incorporated since 2001. Founder and President Rod Precht, with University of Alberta chemical engineer Stojan Djokic, received patents for their unique approach to silver-based wound treatments in 2004. Exciton’s major competitor uses another silver-based wound treatment formula, a formula that Precht actually developed early in his career as a researcher with Westaim Technologies in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta. That product, now owned by global wound-dressing giant Smith & Nephew, is still manuf ...

A news story of great interest to TEC Edmonton's client companies, and indeed, any regional companies claiming, or thinking of claiming, SR&ED  - Scientific Research and Experimental Development -  federal tax credits. In a Globe & Mail article published Jan 27, 2012, entitled "Harper signals Canada's looming R&D revamp," author Barrie McKenna suggests all signals indicate, perhaps as early as the next federal budget, the Prime Minister Stephen Harper will act soon on the recommendations of a task force chaired by Open Text Corp. Chair Tom Jenkins. The task force report says Canada is not getting good value for its innovation-incentive program, costing the Canadian tax payer some $3.5 billion a year. Canada, the task force says, is spending less on research and development (R&D) than the country did five years ago, and is falling behind other countries, despite one of the most general tax and incentive regimes in the world. The task force suggests the SR&ED tax credit be made ...

TEC Edmonton has come a long, long way since its birth as a unique collaboration between the University of Alberta and the City of Edmonton (through theEdmonton Economic Development Corporation) in 2006. Its mandate, however, remains etched in stone: Helping entrepreneurs and researchers create and grow innovative, technology-based companies in greater Edmonton, by providing business expertise, training and extensive networking opportunities. Realizing that mandate is always a work in process, TEC Edmonton continues to review, tweak and evolve the multi-step process by which a brilliant new idea ends up as a viable, wealth-generating business. “We’ve come a long way,” says TEC Edmonton CEO Chris Lumb. “We started and grown many partnerships. We’ve built our capacity to serve more clients. Internally, we’ve grouped our services into three easily-understood categories: Technology Management, Business Services and Entrepreneurial Skills Development.” To create new entities and new commerce, Chris says, the e ...