Tuesday, February 11, 2014

At first glance: Highlights of Budget 2014

Haven't read a lot of it yet, but these were some items that stood out from a innovation perspective ... and from a quasi-rural, living in Southwestern Ontario near the border perspective (a summary of my Tweets at the time):
  • Additional $40 million over four years to the Canada Accelerator and Incubator Program to help entrepreneurs create new companies
  • $305 million over five years to enhance access to high-speed broadband networks to a target speed of 5 Mb/s
  • Up to $30 million to IRAP to support youth internships in SMEs
  • Reallocation of $15 million annually within the Youth Employment Strategy to support up to 1,000 full-time internships at SMEs
  • $3 million over three years to the Canadian Digital Media Network for the creation of the Open Data Institute in Waterloo
  • $15 million over three years, starting in 2014–15, to support the Institute for Quantum Computing in Waterloo
  • Create the Canada First Research Excellence Fund with $1.5 billion in funding over the next decade
  • Additional $15 million per year to the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council
  • Additional $500 million over two years to the Automotive Innovation Fund
  • $8 million over two years to Mitacs to expand its support for industrial research and training of postdoctoral fellows
  • $10 million over two years in support of social innovation research projects at colleges and polytechnics
  • A new Immigrant Investor Venture Capital Fund "will require immigrants to make a real and significant investment in the Canadian economy"
  • "A plan to introduce legislation to prohibit unjustified cross-border price discrimination"

No comments:

Can Windsor use a non-snub to energize a focus on innovation?

OMG, did you hear? There's a new $100 million "Innovation SuperCorridor" initiative from the province introduced in the budget...