News
Canada’s defence investments help grow innovative firms
Canada’s defence sector plays an important role in Canada’s economy. Recent investments in equipment for the Canadian Armed Forces and Coast Guard are resulting in economic benefits such as the creation of good middle-class jobs and the growth of innovative Canadian small businesses.
May 31, 2017 By Government of Canada
That was the message delivered by the Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, at CANSEC 2017, Canada’s premier defence and security trade show. These benefits are the direct result of the Industrial and Technological Benefits (ITB) Policy, which requires successful suppliers to make investments in Canada equal to the value of the defence contract they have won.
“The investments that result from the Government of Canada’s Industrial and Technological Benefits Policy create high-skilled, well-paying middle-class jobs for Canadians,” Minister Bains noted. “Under this policy, Lockheed Martin is supporting research and technological breakthroughs that will help these firms grow and become part of supply chains here and abroad. We are using investments in the Canadian Armed Forces and Coast Guard to drive the kind of innovation that will grow small businesses and boost our economy as a whole.”
Minister Bains announced investments in four Canadian small businesses made by Lockheed Martin, a supplier of equipment to Canada’s Armed Forces:
• Gastops Ltd., an Ottawa firm that provides state-of-the-art sensing equipment for use in advanced fluid testing
• Contextere, an emerging Industrial Internet of Things software company in Ottawa that is developing a new wearable and mobile technology to help industrial workers be safer and more efficient
• Metamaterial Technologies Inc., a Halifax company that is designing and developing new multi-functional materials to help solar panels absorb more light
• Solace Power Inc., a wireless power research and development company based in Mount Pearl, Newfoundland and Labrador.
Lockheed Martin is making these investments as part of its ITB obligations for the in-service support of the C-130J Super Hercules, a transport aircraft.
Minister Bains highlighted how the investments resulting from the ITB Policy enable Canadian businesses to grow, innovate and export. It supports the development of new products and next-generation technologies that will position Canadian companies to meet the future needs of the Armed Forces and pursue new global opportunities.
At the trade show, Minister Bains also unveiled the Innovation Wall, which is sponsored by the Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries. The wall is a photo and story collage of Canadian defence and security innovations over the last century, with each decade represented by an important innovation.
