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Funding
SSMIC monitors and works to obtain funding sources (government, angel and venture) for IT SME’s. The Northern Ontario Enterprise Gateway (NOEG) has been funded by FedNor as a non profit organization providing education and information to entrepreneurs to help them become investor ready and act as a catalyst to form and support angel investor groups in Northern Ontario. NOEG has established a pool of angel investors in Sault Ste. Marie and SSMIC has collaborated with NOEG to support their efforts in Sault Ste. Marie.
SSMIC also monitors provincial and federal funding programs to ensure local SME’s are made aware of new programs that can help support their research and development and business growth.
Program offered by the Sault Ste. Marie Innovation Centre:
Small Business Internship Program (SBIP)
The Sault Ste. Marie Innovation Centre is administering the Small Business Internship Program (SBIP) on behalf of Industry Canada. More information coming soon.
The Small Firm Assistance Program (SFAP) provides financial assistance to small and early stage firms to help them access technology, business and/or technical support
services to assist them in their growth or competitiveness.
This program encourages clients to work with both SSMIC and NRC-IRAP to help them grow and achieve increased profitability. An important feature of the program would be an administratively light application process.
This assistance includes, but is not be limited to the following services:
- Technical experts
- Technical feasibility analysis
- Productivity enhancement analysis
- Marketing including competitive intelligence/market research and promotion
- Development of sales and distribution systems
- Applied Research and Development (possibly dependant on nature of request)
ELIGIBILITY
The client must be a Canadian firm (<100 employees), seeking assistance in the development of new products or services, or in the adoption of technology, which has the potential to help increase sales, employment or productivity. Non-profit agencies can be considered a contractor if they are the client’s preferred contractor and they have the expertise. An applicant’s labour costs and capital equipment purchases are not eligible for reimbursement.
MAXIMUM ASSISTANCE
Assistance is be limited to $5,000/company/year to a maximum of 100% of the total costs of the service. SSMIC would administer the payment directly to the approved contractor and the client would be required to pay a 10% administrative fee to the Sault Ste. Marie Innovation Centre.
For the application, click here.
For details, contact John Hatherley, Business Development Manager at 705-942-7927 x3129 or jhatherley@ssmic.com.
The Business Advisory Service program is intended to provide funds to enable companies to access specialized advisory services from outside of the community. This program will provide up to $10,000 of funding for access to business advisors for advice that cannot be given either through education, market research, or the services of BMEPs Entrepreneur in Residence EIRs. This is not intended to provide assistance to companies to write business plans, market plans, or other types of plans. It should be used for activities such as protection of intellectual property, certification, and specialized research among other things. The maximum provided to any one company under the business advisory program will not be allowed to exceed $10,000 in any one year. Client matching of funds may be required based upon the size of the company. It may be possible to match funds with federal programs such as IRAP’s Business Mentorship program and every attempt possible will be made to do so.
ELIGIBILITY
Access to Business Advisory Services, will be made available by invitation only on a case-by-case basis. In general, this service will be restricted to high potential growth-oriented Ontario technology companies. Entry into the program would be screened by the SSMIC which will then coordinate application review with the BMEP Director.
PROCESS
The Business Advisory Services will be available only through Qualified BMEP Agents. In Sault Ste. Marie, they will be key staff at the Sault Ste. Marie Innovation Centre (SSMIC).
SSMIC will file the request in the BMEP client management system and will review the application and the business advisory service provider’s qualifications and determine whether the applicant is a candidate for this service.
Having approved access, SSMIC will forward the file to the BMEP Project Manager who will prepare agreements for the client, BMEP and the service provider.
The BMEP Director will be required to review and approve all requests for Business Advisory Services. There will be limits placed on the amount of funds granted in any month to ensure that availability of funding of these services is paced throughout the year.
During the first six months of the program, all applications received in a month may be grouped and all approvals may be given at the end of the month to ensure that the best applications receive funding.
The BMEP Project Manager and SSMIC will monitor the progress of the project.
Once the business advisory services have been completed the client and service provider will be required to certify that all services have been performed to satisfaction and a copy of any report be provided to the BMEP Project Manager.
The BMEP Project Manager, in conjunction with the SSMIC will review the final report and documentation and authorize payment, which will be made directly to the service provider.
Finally, the BMEP Project Manager will close out the client case.
The anticipated waiting time from completed application to receipt of approval and signing contracts is expected to be less than four weeks.
For details, contact John Hatherley, Business Development Manager at 705-942-7927 x3129 or jhatherley@ssmic.com.
In Northern Ontario, many small and medium size enterprises have difficulty accessing the appropriate expertise and resources to move their idea to the marketplace.
The intent of this program is to provide technical assistance and support services to assist in the successful launch and growth of their early stage innovation. This assistance would include, but not be limited to, the following services:
1. Access to engineering design and design-for-manufacture resources
2. Collaboration for prototype development
3. Technical feasibility analysis
4. Productivity enhancement analysis
5. Marketing research and market/marketing development
Small- and medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) can receive up to $7,000.00 in assistance towards the developmental costs of their idea through the ADVANCE – Early Stage Innovation Assistance Program. Recipients are also required to contribute at least 10% of the assistance amount received.
ELIGIBILITY
The client must be a Canadian firm (<100 employees, incorporated or in the process of incorporating), seeking assistance in the development of new products, processes or services, or in the adoption of technology, which has the potential to help increase sales, employment or productivity. This program is not intended to support, nor is applicable to, retailers or resellers.
PROJECT COMPLETION DEADLINE
All projects must be complete no later than June 30, 2008
This program is supported by:
Ministry of Northern Development and Mines
To access the application, click here.
Consulting
The Sault Ste. Marie Innovation Centre provides direct support services to the SME community in the Algoma District. In addition to working with entrepreneurs on the IT elements of their business plans, the SSMIC provides assistance with opportunity identification and proposal coordination and development.
Project facilitation includes project coordination and management services on behalf of project groups and partners. This service extends opportunity awareness and development services as well as proposal development assistance. Research and development extension services are provided by the SSMIC as a link between the research community and private sector. The SSMIC facilitates increased activity in this area by establishing processes to increase private sector awareness of research potential and facilitating links between private sector partners and the research community.
The SSMIC works closely with its community partners in the economic development and support for small business field.
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