NBIF’s Innovation Voucher Helps 23 Companies Innovate

Innovation Voucher Fund provides over $1 million in support to small and medium-sized businesses

Premier Brian Gallant joined the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation to announce an investment of over $1 million to increase research and development activities across New Brunswick through the Innovation Voucher Fund.

“Investing in research and innovation is important to economic growth,” said Gallant. “Providing small and medium-sized businesses with the financial support they need for research and development means they will be able to increase their productivity and competitiveness in the global market.”

Through the foundation’s Innovation Voucher Fund, 23 small and medium-sized businesses received funding and were provided access to scientific talent and research organizations to help them expand their businesses through innovation.

“The innovation voucher is used to connect businesses to researchers to either solve a problem or develop an idea through research and development, ideas that are making New Brunswick businesses more profitable and competitive,” said Calvin Milbury, president and chief executive officer of the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation. “The vouchers enable businesses from across the province to access specialized expertise and equipment available within our research institutions to help them turn their ideas into reality.”

The fund aims to accelerate innovation within small and medium-sized businesses using the talent, capacity and facilities of New Brunswick’s research organizations.

The goal is to apply innovation in a way that improves the profitability and competitiveness of those businesses.

Successful applicants are matched with the research professional that they need to carry out the project. The foundation will contribute up to $80,000 to cover 80 per cent of the cost of the research.

To be eligible, applicants are required to make a minimum cash investment equal to 20 per cent of the project’s cost. Intellectual property developed during the project remains the property of the company.

Remsoft Inc. is one of this year’s recipients. The company has been working with big data for decades, bringing intelligence to managing and optimizing land assets in forestry, utilities and other resource sectors.

“We used the innovation voucher to identify unique and insightful visualizations for our first cloud application which we are releasing this year,” said Andrea Feunekes, co-founder, president and chief executive officer of Remsoft Inc. “Taking on this high-value project with the foundation helped to de-risk our investment in some new areas for Remsoft, and the speed and simplicity of accessing the voucher was a pleasure.”

Since the fund’s inception in 2014, the foundation has invested almost $4 million and companies more than $1 million.