Though we're often told that it doesn't take much technology to create and run a business--even ordinary laptops can be very powerful tools--there are some ideas that require very robust computing to get off the ground.
High performance computing (HPC), as it's called, relies on the most powerful computers yet devised to process information that run-of-the-mill machines cannot. There's a real barrier for entrepreneurs who have ideas that rely on HPC, however, since the computers aren't the kind you can find at the local Apple store or Best Buy, nor are the costs the kind you can cover with a small business line of credit.
Enter the Ontario Centres for Excellence, a non-profit that helps academics and industry partners collaborate on commercialization projects, acting as a facilitator and co-investor. OCE runs a high performance computing program that makes researchers and supercomputers available to participating entrepreneurs and is currently
accepting applications. Interested small- and medium-sized businesses can submit their research proposals by April 30.
"I'm looking for companies that are already exceptionally savvy," says Ron Van Holst, director of research development for the program, "but are looking to be able to do something…that can't be done right now."
Currently, he explains, there's a real deficit in the availability of HPC outside of academia. Many entrepreneurs, as a result, simply aren't familiar with the technology and what it can do. For that reason, Van Holst says OCE has found, "our best success with companies that have been launched out of universities," as the entrepreneurs are more likely to have been exposed to HPC already. That's also why OCE is speaking with some Toronto-area incubators, and hoping to expand the reach of high powered computing further in the coming years.
OCE is looking specifically for companies that want to work on agile computing (which speeds up the pace at which computer programs can run), medical applications, and improving infrastructure (like local transit systems).
Writer: Hamutal Dotan
Source: Ron Van Holst, Director, Research Development,High Performance Computing, Ontario Centres of Excellence