Build in Canada Innovation Program celebrates support of Canadian innovators with launch of new initiative

GATINEAU, QC, July 14, 2017 /CNW/ - The Government of Canada is committed to growing the economy and strengthening the middle class, as well as helping those working hard to join it. Through the Build in Canada Innovation Program (BCIP), the Government of Canada is investing in Canadian innovators to help them prosper at home and abroad. Since it began in 2010, more than 240 contracts, totalling over $100 million, have been awarded under the program to help Canadian innovators bring their products to market.

Building on this success, the Government of Canada, through Public Services and Procurement Canada, is launching a new pilot called the BCIP Challenges Initiative.

The BCIP Challenges Initiative is a new component of the current program. Departments identify real life needs and challenges that innovators are invited to solve with their products and technologies. Designed to increase the use of late‑stage innovative technologies by government departments, the program allows Canadian businesses to sell their innovations and contribute to Canada's economic growth.

The first phase of the pilot announced today consists of challenges issued by departments and focuses on finding innovative ways to protect Canadian soldiers, civilians and infrastructure. Details of these innovation challenges can be found on the web at Canada.ca/Sell-your-innovation.

Quotes

"Building on the success of the Build in Canada Innovation Program, this initiative provides a new way for Canadian businesses to sell their late-stage innovations to government departments. This new demand-based component will help federal organizations find solutions for their operational needs by using state-of-the art technologies developed by homegrown companies."

Steven MacKinnon
Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Services and Procurement

Quick facts

• Created under the umbrella of the BCIP, the pilot is a departure from the Program's matching model as it will allow government departments to identify selected needs and challenges for Canadian innovators to solve.
• Industry proposals that meet a challenge's requirements will be selected and purchased for departmental testing.
• The BCIP helps Canadian companies of all sizes move their state-of-the-art goods and services from the lab to the marketplace. A total of 30 departments have participated in the program, and BCIP innovations have experienced an 80% commercialization rate.

Associated links

Build in Canada Innovation Program

SOURCE Public Services and Procurement Canada

For further information: Mary-Rose Brown, Office of the Honourable Judy M. Foote, 819-997-5421; Media Relations, Public Services and Procurement Canada, 819-420-5501, [e-mail]

Related Links

www.tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca