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The Northwestern Innovation Centre is providing small and medium-sized Northern Ontario enterprises with a funding opportunity aimed at expanding technology to enhance business operations.
The Northern Technology Accelerator Program (NTAP) is a non-repayable grant program that will cover up to 50 per cent of eligible technology costs to a maximum of $10,000. Administered by Blue Sky Net in partnership with the Innovation Centre, the program will assist businesses to implement innovative technology to help them reach new markets, increase sales, improve efficiency and create or retain jobs.
Carol Long, executive director of the Innovation Centre, said the program fills the gap for people who adapted to different technology during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This is just another part to support that,” she said. “It’s expansion, improving efficiency and increasing sales so that we can support the small businesses in our region.”
The program is expected to help them contribute to the economic development and economic sustainability of Northern Ontario.
“We’ve seen an increase in sales and growth ever since COVID, and we were able to expand the market to reach different places that we haven’t been able to before,” Long said.
“It is very important to keep up with the technology to be relevant and to reach out to other markets by having technology that is up to date with other markets. It really makes it an easy sale.”
Long pointed out that before the COVID-19 pandemic, a large part of the centre’s clients didn’t even have e-commerce or websites.
“Sometimes even just that small technology is supportive in businesses to be competitive,” she said. “Otherwise, how do you compete if you don’t have online sales, or no one can look at you on a website, see you, or get to know you.”
She added that the current labour shortages create a struggle in the workforce and when firms automate work, it benefits the business and makes them more competitive.
“Cybersecurity is also a big issue. A lot of small businesses don’t really think about that right at the beginning,” Long said. “But as they grow and collect personal information about their clients and customers, they need some sort of cybersecurity. This is also a program that can support that development.”
Eligible enterprises include for-profit private sector businesses located in Northern Ontario that have been operating on a full-time basis for a minimum of one year. They must also have a valid Canadian business number, and work must not have yet begun for the proposed project, meaning no products or services have been paid to a vendor to begin work on the proposed project.
Established seasonal businesses are also eligible but not-for-profit and municipalities are not eligible for this program.
Eligible projects include website development, software development and/or software integration, hardware integration, cybersecurity and internal broadband networking. The projects must be completed by an outside vendor from the approved Northern Technology Accelerator Program list of Northern Ontario vendors and project costs cannot include in-house labour expenses.
It must also be completed within three months of the funding approval.
If the unavailability of a Northern Ontario vendor causes a project element to not be completed, the project may still proceed following review.
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