Alberta Innovates has launched a new grant aimed at helping local technology ventures with high growth potential attract customers and investment.
Supporting Alberta Innovates’ Business Plan goals of improving access to innovation supports and accelerating commercialization, Venture Development Grant brings six previous startup and small business funding programs together into one grant with a single application.
“Alberta’s innovators are building the companies that will power our province’s future, and they deserve a funding path that is clear and simple,” says Lindsay Spadavecchia, Interim VP of Commercialization & Talent for Alberta Innovates.
“The Venture Development Grant gives high-growth technology ventures one place to start and support that matches where they are, so they can spend less time navigating and more time building,” she stated.
The Grant is available to Alberta-based, for-profit, technology-based ventures with high growth potential, according to Spadavecchia.
Applicants should have fewer than 250 employees and less than $50 million in annual revenue, and should be commercializing a differentiated innovation.
Applicants self-assess in six areas—customer, technology, business, intellectual property, team, and fundin—based on the KTH Innovation Readiness Level framework.
The Venture Development Grant supports projects such as customer discovery, market validation, prototype development, field trials, commercialization, intellectual property strategy, and financial modelling.
The Grant is expected to support the Government of Alberta’s Technology and Innovation Strategy, which has a target of 20,000 new jobs and $5 billion in annual technology-sector revenue by 2030.
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