In the same week that the New Democratic Party won Alberta’s provincial election, signaling a future where the province might move towards something of a post-oil economy, MaRS and Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) announced a new partnership that will see the two organizations work towards supporting the growth of Canada’s growing cleantech industry.
The goal of the partnership, according to Jon Dogterom
, venture services lead with MaRS’s Cleantech and Physical Science team, is help launch high impact cleantech companies that can compete on the global stage. "This partnership is about formalizing our plans to collaborate to help grow high impact globally competitive cleantech companies," he said in a phone interview.
The two organizations will work together to deliver funding, support and programming to select companies.
Dogterom
says the two organizations hope to help create a $50-billion Canadian cleantech industry within the next five to ten years. A large percentage of Canada’s existing cleantech industry calls Ontario, and, in particular, Toronto home. Thus, a prosperous cleantech industry likely means an even more prosperous Toronto.
“The future in job creation goes with where the opportunities are, and cleantech to me is the biggest opportunity,” said Dogterom
.
Clean skies and more jobs, not a bad combination by any stretch of the imagination.