“If no action is taken action now, the Canadian technology sector infrastructure built up over decades risks being crippled as creative small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) of the country disappear, said Paul LaBarge, chairman of CATA and a founding partner of LaBarge Weinstein LLP, in the open letter from April 7.”
And so the Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance (CATA) raises the call as it notes that the federal government confirmed late last week that it has restarted the Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) funding program in order to mitigate some of the economic strain facing Canadian businesses during COVID-19. Read the complete story here, via itbusiness.ca.
Heartily agreeing, I reposted this call to action with my own remarks on LinkedIn:
“Fifty two years ago initial public stock offerings were issued by a few small companies in ITC and other advanced technologies in Ottawa and Toronto. The companies and their clusters grew and after facing many challenges and roadblocks for ten years we created CATA to provide some collective support. I was privileged to participate in these two clusters as President of the first Canadian owned computer systems manufacturer. Its head office and software group was in Toronto with engineering and manufacturing in Ottawa.
From those small clusters many large clusters have evolved across Canada and as of last year the Greater Toronto Area was creating advanced technology jobs faster than all other major centres in North America!! Nationally our impact on GDP growth has been very significant!”
In turn, that LinkedIn post has garnered lots of reactions and comments – take a look here. Your comments and reactions are most welcome!
Lend your voice to the call for this vital and urgently needed support. CATA has started a petition, accompanied by the apt hashtag #DaysNotWeeks, as in: Save Canada’s future economy. Funding for science & research businesses in #DaysNotWeeks.
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