Innovation Partners

The Canadian Innovation Centre is a national, not-for-profit organization, based in Waterloo, Ontario, dedicated to helping innovators take the first important steps in the commercialization of their innovation. Founded over 30 years ago, the Centre has provided guidance and assistance to over 20,000 inventors and their companies, on the viability of their products and the steps required to take their product to market.

The Centre is at the forefront of the development of best practices in the Commercialization of innovation and has access to numerous resources and services which are directly relevant to innovators.

Early stage innovators suffer from having to deal with many important strategic issues at the same time, from identifying if their innovation meets a market need, to understanding the business model, finding a supplier and a route to market. All of this with little or no resources!

The Centre is familiar with this environment, and helps innovators in a number of ways. The most important issue the CIC addresses is which of all the possible questions should be answered first and what is the best order to answer the remaining ones. Linked with this is a plan to spend as little money as possible in the early stage and more as confidence is gained that the direction taken is the right one. There is no one size fits all solution, and there are many ways to minimize the expense, without reducing the effectiveness of the path chosen.

The Centre for Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology (CBET) is designed to act as the cornerstone of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at UW. Hailed as Canada's most innovative university, Waterloo has a thriving and expanding infrastructure of organizations that foster the commercialization of new technologies and services. CBET's goal is to act as an information hub, pulling together campus support, in order to expand the entrepreneurial initiatives at the University of Waterloo.

Our mission is ambitious; CBET aspires to be internationally recognized as a leader in the development of entrepreneurial business skills, innovation research and technology commercialization. CBET uniquely blends the knowledge of expert academics and the experience of successful entrepreneurs with the imagination and passion of UW students. CBET is designed to produce leaders who understand, create, mobilize and drive technology in Canada and beyond.

CBET offers tailored education curricula for those wishing to combine their entrepreneurial instincts with the business knowledge necessary to take ideas successfully to the marketplace. Graduates of the Centre's Master of Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology (MBET) program are equipped with the knowledge, experience and drive to make informed planning, financing, investing, organizing and monitoring decisions with a specific focus on technological and entrepreneurial environments.

To advance entrepreneurial knowledge and practice, CBET promotes leading edge research and supports prospective entrepreneurs with a solid on-campus infrastructure that facilitates the progression of new ideas into the marketplace. CBET forms alliances with community associations and representatives of leading entrepreneurial and technological organizations linking entrepreneurs, students, educators, researchers and the government in order to promote positive changes within Canadian business.

Communitech is an industry-led organization driving the growth and success of Waterloo Region's technology sector through leadership, connections and promotion.

Our 450+ members include big names in the global technology industry, like Research In Motion, Open Text and COM DEV. But equally as important are our start-up enterprises and growing firms, and the investors, service firms, educational institutions and governments that boldly support their growth.

Communitech started up in 1997 to support the region's early tech cluster. In just eight short years, we've championed the commercialization and industry support that's rocketed our technology community to the top innovation centre in Canada.

Today, close to 400 tech companies proudly call Waterloo Region home, from sectors including information technology, biomedical, aerospace, environmental technology and advanced manufacturing. Together, they employ more than 26,000 employees. And the numbers keep growing! Communitech is committed to continuing that trend.

It's an ultra-competitive market out there — we're making sure our companies, their employees and our technology industry flourishes. We want to inspire and support more tech start-ups, encourage smarter, faster growth for our small and medium-sized companies, and help large companies expand around the globe.

The Microsoft-sponsored Infusion Angels Innovation Centre (IAIC) is the newest in the network of 60+ Microsoft Innovation Centres around the globe. The goal of the centres is to foster innovation and growth in local economies. The centres offer students, researchers, professional developers, and executives access to world-class facilities, consultants, and resources.

Like the other centres, the IAIC facility is dedicated to fostering economic growth through product innovation using Microsoft's emerging technologies. Unique to the IAIC is its theme, Entrepreneurship, and its affiliation with local angel investment firm, Infusion Angels.

The NRC Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC-IRAP) provides a range of both technical and business oriented advisory services along with potential financial support to growth-oriented Canadian small and medium-sized enterprises. The program is delivered by an extensive integrated network of 260 professionals in 100 communities across the country. Working directly with these clients, NRC-IRAP supports innovative research and development and commercialization of new products and services.

NRC-IRAP views SMEs as the strategic backbone of the Canadian economy and is committed to working with them while they realize their full potential and turn knowledge and innovation into strategic opportunities, jobs and prosperity for all Canadians.

Recognized globally for research and innovation, NRC is a leader in the development of an innovative, knowledge-based economy for Canada through science and technology.

Ontario Centres of Excellence. We take ideas to income. Created in response to Ontario's most critical competitive challenges, we facilitate economic growth through support for industrially relevant R&D, the opening of new market opportunities and the commercialization of leading edge discovery. We build strong industry and academic relationships. And, we stimulate knowledge transfer through the development of bright minds, moving their skills to the market.

Values

• Partnership: We believe in the power of teamwork and building effective partnerships both internally and externally. The result is a culture based on transparency and the sharing of information.
• Trust and Respect: We trust and respect our staff, clients and stakeholders and we hold ourselves to the highest standards of professionalism.
• Flexibility and Agility: We believe in serving clients and partners according to their needs and timelines. We identify with the entrepreneurs we work with.
• Risk-taking: We are in the 'new ideas' business. We value creativity and believe in life-long learning. We accept the risks associated with furthering development of innovative ideas and people.
• Accountability: We are accountable for our individual and collective decisions and actions as they impact our relationships and the performance of the organization.
• Positive Work Environment: We support diversity and believe that OCE functions best when staff is like-minded — not necessarily alike. And, we support programs that facilitate work-life balance.