Les brèves de l'actualité | 06 septembre 2021

On the same subject

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  September 26, 2019

  Metal Additive Demonstration Program

  The Metal Additive Manufacturing (AM) Demonstration Program is managed by CME Canada Makes with funding from NRC-IRAP. The program is designed to help Canadian companies by de-risking initial trials, increase their awareness and understanding to the advantages of metal additive manufacturing (AM) technology. The program focuses on additive manufacturing technologies such as laser powder bed such as Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS), Laser Direct Energy Deposition (LDED), electron beam (EB) and other emerging metal AM technologies. Canada Makes works with a group of leading Canadian service providers of metal AM technologies who provide participating companies guidance and advice to the advantages as well as opportunities offered by adopting AM. A primary goal of the program for Canada's industry to learn about the cost savings associated with AM, and how they can take advantage of the main areas where AM excels at; light-weighting of parts, parts consolidation and complexity of design, the sweet-spots for metal AM. The program demonstrates the ability to produce low volume parts for diverse applications; including the repair of high performance/low cost tools, dies and plastic and composite moulds for stamping, forming, trimming high strength alloy steels and much more. Canada Makes assists in assessing the needs of manufacturers and how best it suits their business model. Some have needs like the fabrication of obsolete legacy parts no longer available, AM offers a relatively inexpensive solution. Others are tooling companies looking to improve productivity and gaining a competitive edge by adopting conformal cooling. Be they SMEs or larger corporations, AM is changing how we build things and this program is there to help them learn about the disruptions coming to their sector but also de-risks their initial trials of this exciting technology. The results will create awareness and encourage the adoption of AM technology, thus improving Canada's manufacturing and exporting sectors and our global competitiveness, resulting in new technology skills and increased employment opportunities in Canada. Project Objectives: This feasibility study project has the following specific objectives: Identify and engage NRC-IRAP eligible companies with local ITA's who are interested to undertake a feasibility study of metal additive manufacturing. Preparation of a template task for a description of a standard research of a coupon demonstration unit to demonstrate Laser Additive Manufacturing process to suit their application; Identify the companies' common needs for researching the process in design, manufacturing of selected tools to apply Metal Additive Manufacturing technology for their required specific purposes; Meet selected companies to outline the application design – supply material for test coupons or part – deposition of Laser Additive Manufacturing to demonstrate its microstructure material, hardness and mechanical strength for component and, To increase the confidence and awareness of manufacturing companies in applying Metal Additive Manufacturing for specific tooling. Small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) will form the majority of the businesses participating in the program. Under the current challenging economic conditions and with strong competition from low-cost countries, SMEs are interested in adapting advanced manufacturing technologies to improve their competitiveness. NRC-IRAP's financial support will enable Canada Makes to work with these SMEs to organize projects and build the momentum in Canada allowing companies to see the advantages of Additive Manufacturing technologies improving the performance of our manufacturers to compete globally. Through the delivery of this program Canada Makes, it became apparent that many of the same questions and concerns were shared by new comers to this technology. Therefore Canada Makes developed two interactive guides, the Metal Additive Process Guide & Metal Additive Design Guide designed to assist businesses new to metal AM wanting to learn about process and designing for metal AM (DfAM). The Guides are easy to use, interactive and offer useful information for the adoption of this technology. Access is free although we request that you register. Thank you and enjoy! http://canadamakes.ca/funding/program-for-metal-additive-technology-demonstration-projects/

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  December 8, 2020

  Appel de projets d’innovation en intelligence artificielle : recherche industrielle en collaboration et soutien à l’entrepreneuriat

  Cet appel de projets s'adresse à l'ensemble des entreprises québécoises, en priorité aux PME et aux startups, souhaitant réaliser un projet d'innovation pour le développement et la commercialisation ou l'adoption de technologies d'intelligence artificielle (IA). Les différents volets permettent de soutenir des projets de startups allant jusqu'à 50 000 $, des projets d'innovation d'entreprises allant jusqu'à 150 000 $ et des projets d'envergure comprenant au moins deux entreprises pouvant obtenir une subvention allant jusqu'à 1 500 000 $ selon les besoins des entreprises. Les différents volets permettent aussi de soutenir diverses configurations de partenariat selon les besoins de la réalisation des projets d'innovation en IA. Objectifs Les objectifs de l'appel de projets sont les suivants : Assurer le développement et la consolidation d'efforts d'innovation dans le domaine de l'IA. Encourager les collaborations entre les entreprises (de toute taille, y compris les startups) ainsi qu'avec les milieux de la recherche et l'innovation pour accélérer l'intégration de technologies d'intelligence artificielle dans les milieux d'affaires et, par le fait même, dans la société. Appuyer les projets structurants visant l'adoption massive de l'IA dans un ou des secteurs de l'économie Supporter la réalisation de projets débouchant sur des retombées économiques importantes et immédiates Contribuer au positionnement du Québec comme chef de file en matière de développement de l'IA. Clientèle admissible Cet appel de projets s'adresse à l'ensemble des entreprises québécoises, en priorité aux PME et aux startups, souhaitant réaliser un projet d'innovation pour le développement et la commercialisation ou l'adoption de technologies d'IA. Les grandes entreprises ayant des activités de recherche et développement interne ou de production au Québec constituent des demandeurs admissibles au volet destiné aux projets d'envergure (volet 3). De plus, les coopératives et les OBNL ayant des activités de recherche et développement interne ou de production au Québec constituent également des codemandeurs admissibles au volet destiné aux projets d'envergure (volet 3). Date limite de dépôt des demandes Le 18 janvier 2021 à 16 h. Prochaines dates de dépôt pour cet appel de projets Le 15 avril 2021 à 16 h. Le 15 octobre 2021 à 16 h. Volets de l'appel de projets L'appel comprend trois volets : Volet 1 : Projets d'innovation des startups Ce volet s'adresse aux startups en intelligence artificielle (ayant moins de trois ans d'existence) qui reçoivent l'accompagnement d'un incubateur ou d'un accélérateur d'entreprises. Volet 2 : Projets d'innovation des PME Ce volet s'adresse aux PME visant la production de biens et services ou la réalisation d'activités de recherche et développement à l'interne. Volet 3 : Projets d'innovation d'envergure Ce volet s'adresse aux regroupements d'entreprises comprenant un minimum de deux entreprises québécoises. Les projets admissibles sont les projets structurants qui font la démonstration d'un potentiel de retombées importantes à court terme. Projets retenus Voici la liste des projets retenus en 2019-2020 dans le cadre des appels de projets d'innovation en intelligence artificielle.

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  April 15, 2020

  Canadian space startups fight to survive during COVID-19 pandemic

  As the COVID-19 pandemic took hold and the government reacted to help businesses across the spectrum in Canada, startups and pre-startups are struggling to find adequate support. The Federal and provincial governments have slowly gained respect for their reaction to the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic. Their original programs, criticized for being unfocused and insufficient, have given way to the Canadian Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) and Canadian Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) programs that provide support to both laid-off employees and to companies that have lost revenue due to the crisis. The Wage Subsidy covers 75% of wages for many companies that have lost a certain percentage of revenue, which used to be 30% but has been revised to 15% recently. Coupled with governmental lending programs, this is a welcome change that is helping to prevent business closures and layoffs at many Canadian companies. There is still a gap in the programs however: Startups and pre-startups. This is a segment of the ecosystem that can't be ignored. Startups and pre-startups are important to the country's innovation engine. The Wage Subsidy formula, significantly, is based on a percentage of revenue. For most startup businesses that are still in the growth stage, there's little-to-no revenue to be lost. They have expenses, contracts, suppliers, and most especially employees, just like any other company but they're paying for those things using investment money, debt, and even founders' savings. We learned from several startups that are graduates from the Creative Destruction Labs' inaugural space stream, that can be a big problem. SpaceQ spoke with Reaction Dynamics' founder and CEO, Bachar Elzein, about the problem. He said that this is a serous danger for Canadian startups. They can't show lost revenue because they didn't have revenue, but the process of acquiring and retaining investors has become quite a bit more complex in the wake of the coronavirus crisis. Going to meetings with investors is nearly impossible, and investors are skittish thanks to the economic uncertainty in most of the world's economy right now. Getting new investment is unlikely at best. Debt is a problem too. Elzein said that lenders — including federal and provincial lenders — want to see a variety of assets: revenue, materials, contracted sales, equity, and anything else that can be used to pay off the debt. Some new businesses can proffer these things — but technology-focused startups' greatest asset is their people and their technology, and that may not be easily expressed in ways that will satisfy lenders. Elzein had looked into lenders, but even provincial and federal lenders seem to be reluctant to help companies like Reaction Dynamics, despite their heavily-promoted emergency lending programs. Elzein recognizes that Reaction Dynamics is better off than most. While acquiring new investors is challenging, their existing investors have been supportive. Elzein said that “we can't thank our investors enough” for their assistance, which has helped keep Reaction Dynamics going. The Canadian Space Agency has also been of great help, working with Reaction Dynamics to ensure that they get grant money as quickly and efficiently as possible. They've retained all of their team, and they've been productive: while rocket testing is difficult-to-impossible right now, other tasks can be done (and are being done) from home. The company is also pivoting to activities that will help with the current pandemic. Reaction Dynamics will be shifting its production capacity towards producing face shields and medical equipment. With Montreal emerging as a key centre in Canada for fighting the coronavirus, Elzein and his team want to do whatever they can to help. They've been gratified to learn that, in Elzein's words, “working with rockets has helped us work with hospitals”, and the revenues from these activities will help them going forward. But Elzein recognizes that other companies haven't been so fortunate. He knows that other companies in the industry haven't been so fortunate, and have followed once-promising space pioneers like OneWeb in having to go into bankruptcy. He calls on the federal government to close this wage support gap, believing that “the banks should be more lenient about these debts”. SpaceRyde founder Saharnaz Safari agreed. In a statement to SpaceQ said that “even though SpaceRyde has brought direct foreign investment to Canada and has created full-time jobs for Canadian engineers, our company does not qualify for CEWS”, and that “the economic situation has made us re-visit our growth and hiring plans for this year.” It is possible, even likely that these programs will change. The situation is dynamic, and the government is hurrying to replace non-viable support programs with ones that better suit the situation on the ground. But, for now, startups like Reaction Dynamics will have to do what they can to survive, and hope that after the crisis is over, they'll be able to continue where they left off. Another issue which affects a lot of businesses including startups, is the Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) tax incentives. The government has been slow to provide refunds. In an open letter to the Prime Minister and the government, the CATA Alliance called on the government to “immediately release the $200 million in filed and backlogged Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) claims.” With files from Marc Boucher. https://spaceq.ca/canadian-space-startups-fight-to-survive-during-covid-19-pandem/