Backgrounder
Terry Sheehan, Parliamentary Secretary to the Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages and Minister responsible for FedNor, announced a FedNor investment of more than $1 million for three strategic initiatives that support innovation and business development and growth in the Nipissing-Timiskaming region as well as Northern Ontario.
Nipissing-Timiskaming initiatives supported by FedNor
FPInnovations (FPI)
$525,600
With $525,600 in FedNor funding, FPI will deliver the Ontario Forest Sector Capacity Building initiative aimed at encouraging innovation and technology uptake within Northern and Indigenous forestry businesses. This strategic investment will support Northern Ontario-based research staff and relevant FPI support staff in connecting research directly to forest sector businesses, helping them to build their technical and human resources capacity. The project goals are to implement innovation, foster investment, grow skilled employment, and achieve a tangible economic impact in Northern and Indigenous communities.
Emile Janveaux Forest Products Ltd.
$381,500
A repayable FedNor contribution of $381,500 will assist Emile Janveaux Forest Products to purchase equipment to improve operational efficiency in the forest. The logging company, based in Mattawa, currently processes treetops manually. Upgrading to a mechanical process will increase efficiency as the felling, topping and delimbing would be done by one machine. As a result, this initiative will improve the company's competitiveness, while enhancing on-the-job safety for its employees.
Canadore College
$101,000
FedNor funding of $101,000 will enable Canadore College to assist with the pre-commercialization of a device that will offer small businesses and social organizations a user-friendly, cost-effective sterilization method to comply with public health and safety regulations. Canadore's Innovation Center for Advanced Manufacturing and Prototyping (ICAMP) is working in partnership with FEME Innovations from North Bay who came up with the creative prototype to tackle the coronavirus health crisis. Its invention, dubbed the UltraViolet Qube-it, was developed in response to a COVID-19 Challenge sponsored by the Brazilian mining company, Vale, and is one of a dozen winning proposals from around the globe. The device could be used to sterilize items such as identification badges, pagers, shoes, masks, toys, just to name a few.
