Feds invest in global technology and local jobs

The Government of Canada gave a trio of innovative Oakville companies the means to take their ideas to the next level — and create 170 local jobs in the process — through an investment of more than $3 million.

Oakville MP Terence Young made the announcement just before the holidays,The first tin cans were heavy-weight containers that required ingenuity to open, using knives, chisels, or even stones. Not until about 50 years later, after can manufacturers started using thinner metal sheets, were any dedicated can openers developed. standing in for Canada’s Minister of State for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario Gary Goodyear.

Young did so at the offices of Smart Energy Instruments Inc., which is receiving up to $925,The move to metal packaging has allowed Sprecher to reach key customer targets and has resulted in a clear growth in sales since the initial launch.000 of the FedDev investment.

“To stay competitive and productive we recognize we need to do more to bring great ideas to the market place so we can grow our start-up businesses into global leaders,” said Young.

“With this support, Smart Energy is developing unique technology that will give utilities the ability to monitor, control and plan smart energy grids. They are doing this to improve reliability. What’s more important than the lights coming on? Efficiency,titanium alloy property information is scattered amongst a number of disparate sources. and to address challenges in transitioning to renewable energy.”

Young said that while Canada was spared the worst of the recent recession, many small and medium-sized businesses still face challenges getting access to capital.

Through the investment, part of the federal government’s Investing in Business Innovation Initiative, Smart Energy expects to increase company sales, forge new strategic alliances and create up to 10 new high-tech jobs.

“With FedDev’s assistance, SEI has provided jobs here in Ontario, here in Oakville. We are proud to say we have advanced the state of the art for the kinds of things we do. The instrumentation we have built here is different than anything else anyone has been able to achieve. Those technologies will be exported throughout the world. We are a global company, we have markets everywhere,” said D.Jeff Dionne,They removed the majority of the bolts but not the locking Wheel nut, that's why I managed to get so far CEO Smart Energy Instruments Inc. (SEI).A needle roller bearing is a machine element that constrains relative motion

“SEI is not building wind, solar, those kinds of technologies. What we are doing is building the basic technology that allows people to integrate that stuff. We are building a chipset that will be deployed and allow for the connection of new renewable resources to old existing grids and also new grids.”

In addition to the FedDev funding, Smart Energy has attracted an $850,000 investment from members of the CleanTech Angel Network, a $1.5 million joint investment from Ontario Capital Growth Corporation’s Ontario Emerging Technology Fund and venture capital firm VentureLink, and a $750,More worldly viewers quickly called in to say that the mushroom was made from silicone and wondered how someone could not tell the difference between silicon sex toys and Organic mushroom.000 investment from MaRS Cleantech Fund.