Politics
Politics, Policy and Regulation of green tech in Canada

News Briefs

  • Bloomberg puts Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group at top of financing list +

    Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. has topped the 2016 Lead Arranger ranking for clean energy and smart energy technologies, according Read More
  • TransPod partners with IKOS on design of hyperloop pod +

    TransPod, the two-year old startup building a hyperloop system to redefine commercial transportation, has partnered with IKOS to design and Read More
  • JLM charges a battery and feeds the grid from a single energy storage solar power installation +

    MicroStorage from JLM Energy aims to give the user the ability to not only charge a battery connected to a Read More
  • New report explores emerging energy independent vehicles +

    It wasn’t that long ago when electric vehicles (EVs) powered entirely be renewable energy would have been considered something for Read More
  • WWF reveals climate vulnerabilities in three New Brunswick communities +

    A climate change assessment done by WWF-Canada for three municipalities in New Brunswick reveals that they are already experiencing impacts Read More
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The Canadian government’s now three-year-old Venture Capital Action Plan (VCAP) has done a very good job of leveraging public money to encourage private sector risk capital investment. According to figures released by the Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (CVCA), the program has taken an initial $340 million in federal money and translated that into $886 million.

Committed in Budget 2014 by the previous Conservative government, VCAP’s goal was to create large scale, private sector funds of funds with institutional and corporate investors participating. The level of private sector investment attained so far represents two-thirds of the program’s $1.4 million objective.

The CVCA describes the program as having “an overwhelmingly positive impact on Canada’s innovation ecosystem.” It’s especially true for the information and communications technologies (ICT) which has garnered the lion’s share of funds and investments over the past three years. The same can be said for the life sciences and clean technology arenas but on a much smaller scale. (For more click HERE.)

The venture capital association says that because of the program’s current success, the federal government should create a second stream for VCAP in Budget 2017.

Mike Woolatt, CEO at the CVCA, notes that Canada needs to create and grow new companies and without another VCAP, innovation investment may take a step backwards.

“In times of fiscal constraint and focus on innovation, a program like VCAP which costs very little but has a direct impact on innovation is the right move,” he said.

Figures includes in the CVCA assessment of the VCAP program come from data previously collected by BDC Capital.