Springboard Atlantic Receives $8.5 Million To Advance Academic Innovation And Commercialization
July 14th, 2014
Halifax, Nova Scotia – July, 14, 2014: Springboard Atlantic, a not-for-profit organization that supports the commercialization of academic research in Atlantic Canada, recently received $8.5 million from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency’s (ACOA) Atlantic Innovation Fund (AIF). As the only pan-Atlantic project announced, this funding will be used to further Springboard Atlantic’s support of eighteen post-secondary institutions across the region in knowledge transfer to the private sector.
“The AIF funding for our programs is critical for the region as we continue to grow the conversion of research-derived knowhow and intellectual property into solving business challenges, licensing new technologies, and helping create and support new companies,” says Springboard Atlantic’s CEO, Chris Mathis. “Without the network of industry liaison and technology transfer officers residing in our eighteen institutions we would have very little means of supporting any transferable interaction between research and industry. ACOA funding also supports early stage developments that need help to become viable commercial opportunities. These early stage developments often generate new or improved products and services which in turn generate economic and social benefits to the region.”
Since Springboard Atlantic’s inception in 2004, it has leveraged over $47 million in R&D funding; assisted with twenty-seven start-ups or spin-off companies from Atlantic Canadian universities and colleges; raised over $16 million in capital; and facilitated fifty-nine commercial licenses. The eighteen institutional members of the Springboard Atlantic network play a far more significant role in corporate R&D than their counterparts elsewhere in the country. Approximately twenty percent of all private sector R&D in Atlantic Canada is conducted in partnership with post-secondary institutions, compared to five percent in the rest of Canada.
For information of Springboard Atlantic, visit www.springboardatlantic.ca
For information on the Atlantic Innovation Fund, visit http://www.acoa-apeca.gc.ca
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Inquiries:
Chris Mathis, President & CEO
Springboard Atlantic
902-476-1641
cmathis@springboardatlantic.ca
www.springboardatlantic.ca