New fund to promote innovation

RYAN MELANSON – TELEGRAPH JOURNAL | link to original article

SAINT JOHN – The provincial government is providing $7.25 million for a new fund designed to help New Brunswick businesses turn broad, innovative ideas into viable products and services.

The Innovation Voucher Fund, administered through the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation, will provide up to $80,000 to cover 80 per cent of collaborations between small or medium-sized New Brunswick companies and research organizations.

Premier David Alward was joined by a number of other government ministers and MLAs to make the announcement at NY Thermal Inc. in Saint John on Friday.

Alward said the fund will provide an important link between businesses with new ideas, and the tools and expertise needed to develop those ideas. He said access to capital at important stages of growth has been a barrier for businesses in the past.

“We really see innovation as the rocket fuel for job creation and economic growth. We're providing an opportunity for them to access our province's scientific talents and the facilities needed to develop and commercialize new innovations,”Alward said.

Kevin Dennison, owner and CEO of NY Thermal Inc., which manufactures and sells heating boilers and furnace equipment across North America, said he sees the initiative as opening up connections with experts that can help advance his company's ideas.

“We have a pretty innovative group of staff, but when it comes down to the actual core research side of what we need to do, sometimes we just think it's too expensive to get help from elsewhere, or we don't know how to go about it,” he said.

“This opens up some opportunity to have a concept or theory that isn't quite viable yet, and then put that in the hands of an expert who can help get us to the next step.” Calvin Milbury, New Brunswick Innovation Foundation president and CEO, said vouchers from the fund are available to businesses with fewer than 500 employees that have been in operation for at least 24 months.

“If these businesses have an idea or problem they want to solve through research and development, they would apply to (the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation) and seek a voucher,”Milbury said.

“If we see a strong business case and award them that voucher, they can take that to a research organization in New Brunswick,” he said, referencing the University of New Brunswick, Université de Moncton, community colleges and the Research Productivity Council as possible research hubs to connect with businesses.

Robert Hatheway, the foundation's chair, said the voucher fund is a needed boost to research and development investment in New Brunswick, which he says lags behind the national average.

“The private sector doesn't invest as much in research in development in New Brunswick as in other jurisdictions. What we're trying to do is stimulate that whole process,”Hatheway said.

He said the goal is to help businesses identify how to explore and test innovative ideas, as well as helping with cash flow so businesses can still operate as they work to innovate.

“A good investment in how to make a product or service better is going to come back to a business tenfold, so we're just trying to take down that initial barrier,”he said.

Milbury said applications for vouchers are available immediately through the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation website and companies can start applying anytime.