EDC and GE Canada host Industrial Internet matchmaking session, promoting collaboration between Canadian high-tech firms

Export Development Canada

MISSISSAUGA, ON, May 27, 2015 /CNW/ - General Electric (GE) Canada and Export Development Canada (EDC) are working together to identify and build partnerships with Canadian digital technology, software and big data analytics companies with niche capabilities to serve the growing global demand for Industrial Internet technology.

The matchmaking session held today at GE Canada's headquarters in Mississauga, ON was focused on exploring complementary capabilities in the areas of:

• Machine-to-machine connectivity technologies,
• Data analysis,
• Cybersecurity, and
• Intelligent wireless technologies.

The introductions are being made as part of an ongoing partnership between GE Canada and EDC aimed at developing access for Canadian small- and medium-sized technology companies to the global marketplace. GE Canada benefits from stronger ties to Canadian companies with expertise aligned to its strategic business interests.

"GE is bringing together world class industrial engineering with sensors, software and big data analytics to create brilliant machines," said Jas Klotia, Chief Information Officer, GE Canada. "Together with EDC, we are forging new relationships with technology companies in Canada that we can potentially partner with to realize our vision of a world with more insightful and connected machines."

Last year, GE Canada and EDC partnered on similar initiatives with a session in February 2014 at GE Aviation Bromont in Quebec to identify leading Canadian suppliers in tooling and automation, and another to connect manufacturing and services companies to GE Power Conversion and GE Hitachi Nuclear Canada in Peterborough in July of 2014.

GE Canada has been a strategic partner for EDC due to its strong track record of growing exports from its Canadian operations and nurturing Canadian suppliers into dynamic exporters. EDC provides financing solutions for GE Canada based upon the quality of its Canadian footprint and the prominence of exporting in its business model.

"The supply chains of global companies like GE are critical to Canada's exporting story, because smaller Canadian companies have the opportunity to grow alongside GE as it extends its reach into new global markets," said Mairead Lavery, Senior Vice-President, Business Development, EDC.

"An important part of EDC's job is to connect Canadian companies to new buyers, but a company that is as dynamic and diversified at GE has the potential to create a new generation of Canadian exporters within the industrial internet space," added Lavery. "That's a tremendous opportunity for Canada in a still-developing field with huge global demand."

Canadian companies with leading edge expertise and the ability or willingness to export that are interested in future EDC trade development opportunities can register here, by calling 1-888-434-8508, or by registering their services on Enterprise Canada Network (ECN), a joint venture between EDC and Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters (CME).

About GE

GE (NYSE: GE) imagines things others don't, builds things others can't and delivers outcomes that make the world work better. GE brings together the physical and digital worlds in ways no other company can. In its labs and factories and on the ground with customers, GE is inventing the next industrial era to move, power, build and cure the world. www.ge.com

About EDC

EDC is Canada's trade finance agency, providing financing and insurance solutions locally and around the world to help Canadian companies of any size respond to international business opportunities. As a profitable Crown corporation that operates on commercial principles, EDC works together with private- and public-sector financial institutions to create greater capacity for Canadian companies to engage in trade and investment.

For more information about how EDC can help your company, visit www.edc.ca

SOURCE Export Development Canada

Image with caption: "Jas Klotia, Chief Information Officer, GE Canada, during the matchmaking session held today at GE's Mississauga facility (CNW Group/Export Development Canada)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20150527_C4180_PHOTO_EN_17079.jpg

Media Contacts: Rahim Ladha, GE Canada, E-mail: [email protected], Phone: [phone]; Phil Taylor, Export Development Canada, E-mail: [email protected] , Phone: [phone]