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Federal and Provincial Governments invest over $960,000 in Alberta’s Wireless Industry

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Backgrounder

Western Economic Diversification Canada (WD)

• Western Economic Diversification Canada works in partnership with the provinces, industry associations and communities to stimulate and diversify Western Canada’s economy, as well as to represent the interests of the West in national economic policy.
• WD is announcing a contribution of $648,177 to Calgary Technologies Inc.’s phase two of the Wireless City initiative. Phase two involves expanding Wireless City services province-wide, as well as promoting Alberta’s wireless technology capabilities within Alberta and internationally via tradeshows, demonstrations and a new marketing tool called the Solutions Catalog.
• WD’s investment, made through its Western Diversification Program (WDP), supports the Government of Canada’s commitments to facilitate innovation, promote a competitive and expanded business sector and develop sustainable communities.
• The underlying objective of the WDP is to create a stronger West and a stronger Canada. Several guiding principles are used to help assess how initiatives contribute to this objective, including:
  
  
  • increased economic activity that improves the viability, prosperity, and quality of life for individuals and communities across Western Canada.
  • increased economic research in the areas of sustainable communities, innovation and entrepreneurship to provide a sound base for economic development in areas of importance to Western Canada
• Other elements that are considered when determining the relative merit of proposals include: the measurable impact on the western Canadian economy, viability and sustainability, long-term benefits, and the participation of other stakeholders.

Alberta Innovation and Science

• Alberta Innovation and Science provides leadership and makes strategic investments in science and technology to help achieve sustainable long-term prosperity and an excellent quality of life for Albertans.  Department priorities include expanding research capacity and scientific excellence, developing, attracting and retaining highly qualified people, attracting corporate investments, and supporting initiatives to develop Alberta innovations into competitive products and services for world markets.

Edmonton Economic Development Corporation

• Edmonton Economic Development Corp. (EEDC) is a unique, autonomous company (owned by the City of Edmonton) that is responsible for marketing Greater Edmonton's economic opportunities to the world.  EEDC is responsible for regional economic development, regional tourism marketing, the Shaw Conference Centre and the Edmonton Research Park.  For more information on EEDC, visit: www.edmonton.com/eedc 
• Information & Communications Technology (ICT) is one of 10 industry clusters that EEDC supports through the Greater Edmonton Cluster Strategy. 
• Some Edmonton companies prominent in Alberta's $3.5 billion wireless industry, include:
  • BigBangwidth - high speed data transmission & dataflow management
  • Eleven Engineering - semiconductor maker
  • Meta4hand - development of handheld device to transmit data and images for use in medicine, transportation, business presentations
  • Micralyne - manufacture of silicon chips in wireless devices
  • Safefreight - fleet tracking and security monitoring of mobile assets.
  • Scanimetrics - chip testing technology
  • Telus - full service provider data, internet, voice, wireless service
  • TR Labs - Canada's largest R & D consortium in ICT, including wireless solutions.
• Edmonton's ICT cluster

Calgary Technologies Inc.

• Calgary Technologies Inc. helps companies accelerate their success by:
  
  
  • Offering programs and services to help entrepreneurs build their companies
  • Linking entrepreneurs to sources of financing and business experts who can help address the challenges of growth;
  • Connecting companies to the right people with the right resources at the right time to enhance business-to-business collaboration and promote innovation.
• Visit http://www.calgarytechnologies.com/  for more information.

Wireless City

• Wireless City is a not-for-profit marketing services program for Alberta’s wireless technology sector. We drive growth in the wireless sector by showcasing innovative, made-in-Alberta technologies to global markets. The initiative will build an export economy around Alberta’s wireless technologies and attract outside investment.
• Managed by Calgary Technologies Inc. and an initiative of WiTec Alberta, Wireless City promotes Alberta’s wireless technology sector by:
  
  
  • Initiating creative projects to demonstrate the application of technology solutions in new and innovative ways, often involving partnerships with several local companies across different sectors or industries. These projects allow companies to illustrate live demonstrations of their products in sales dialogues throughout their global markets.
  • Having professionally organized wireless pavilions at targeted technology expositions around the world.
  • Creating the Alberta Wireless Solutions Catalog to promote made-in-Alberta wireless solutions to local, national and international markets.
  • Developing home markets, exploring new wireless market opportunities, and creating a culture of technology use in Alberta.
• Visit http://www.wirelesscity.ca/  for more information.

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