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  • Canadian firms could be in the running to repair F-35 parts - but will they succeed in such a bid?

    January 30, 2018 | Local, Aerospace

    Canadian firms could be in the running to repair F-35 parts - but will they succeed in such a bid?

    DAVID PUGLIESE, OTTAWA CITIZEN More from David Pugliese, Ottawa Citizen The US government is looking for a company to conduct future depot level repair of F-35 components for the North American region. Since Canada is still part of the F-35 program, Public Services and Procurement Canada is providing details to Canadian industry. The US government wants information from the firms and whether they can do the job. Key criteria include: existing capability, ability to grow, and labour costs. “The Canadian Government, as for all F-35 Participant nations, has been asked to distribute this RFI (Request for Information), collect responses, ensure completeness, and forward to the United States Joint Program Office,” Public Services and Procurement Canada noted. “The Canadian Government is not involved in the selection process. Completed responses will be required by the Canadian Government no later than 16 March 2018.” There are approximately 400 different parts and components to repair. Work would continue until 2040. What are the chances of a Canadian firm being selected? Canada's aerospace industry has the skills to do the work. But the Canadian government hasn't committed to buying the F-35 so that could be a factor. It would be certainly controversial among F-35 users to select a Canadian firm for this role, considering the government's decision not to buy the F-35, at least at this point. However, if the US government wanted to solidify the purchase of F-35s by Canada, providing Canadian firms with this job would make it increasingly difficult to ignore the industrial benefits resulting from the F-35. http://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/defence-watch/canadian-firms-could-be-considered-to-repair-f-35-parts-but-will-they-succeed-in-such-a-bid

  • Auditor general to issue new fighter jet report in the fall

    January 30, 2018 | Local, Aerospace

    Auditor general to issue new fighter jet report in the fall

    Lee Berthiaume, The Canadian Press Published Monday, January 29, 2018 2:03PM EST Last Updated Monday, January 29, 2018 4:31PM EST OTTAWA -- Six years after his explosive report on the F-35 derailed the Harper government's plan to buy the controversial stealth aircraft, federal auditor general Michael Ferguson is diving back into the fighter-jet file. Ferguson's staff have been going over internal government records for several months, though the auditor general's office won't reveal exactly what aspects of the program are under the microscope. The final report is scheduled for release in the fall. Ferguson's last report on fighter jets in April 2012 was a bombshell which found senior defence officials twisted rules, downplayed problems and withheld information about the Harper government's plan to buy 65 F-35s. The report forced the government to suspend the project pending a complete review, which eventually pegged the full cost of buying and operating the F-35s at more than $45 billion. Six years later, Canada still has not chosen a new fighter jet to replace its aging CF-18s. It is unlikely the auditor general will find the kind of serious problems with the government's efforts to buy fighter jets as the last time, as the overall procurement system has been revamped with a variety of checks and balances. The new review could instead turn on the government's plan to buy interim fighter jets and its arguably slow progress in holding a competition to replace the CF-18s, said defence analyst David Perry of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute. "How much benefit and at what cost will Canada obtain fighter aircraft by virtue of going through an interim fighter purchase as well as doing a life extension?" Perry said. "For me, one of the biggest concerns is that the process from this point forward is not exactly lightning quick." The Liberals announced in November that they plan to buy used fighter jets from Australia -- rather than new Super Hornets from Boeing -- as a stop-gap until the entire CF-18 fleet can be replaced. The new planes were originally expected by 2025, but documents provided to industry last week show the new target is 2031, as the government plans to take its time with a competition. The delay is almost certain to mean another round of expensive and complicated life extensions to the CF-18s, which will be 50 years old by the time the last are retired. Previous reports have determined that any life extensions to the CF-18s beyond 2025 would be "a high-risk option in terms of cost, schedule and technical factors." Many defence analysts and retired military officials have questioned the need for interim fighters and urged an immediate competition, rather than waiting several years. https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/auditor-general-to-issue-new-fighter-jet-report-in-the-fall-1.3780244

  • Determining how to upgrade the Griffon helicopter a focus for RCAF this year

    January 25, 2018 | Local, Aerospace

    Determining how to upgrade the Griffon helicopter a focus for RCAF this year

    DAVID PUGLIESE, OTTAWA CITIZEN More from David Pugliese, Ottawa Citizen It's going to take a while to do but the RCAF plans to extend the life of its Griffon helicopters out to the 2030s. “The project will replace obsolete cockpit instruments and avionics with components that are supportable to the mid-2030s,” the RACF noted. Adaptation and integration of existing avionics and electronic flight instruments in the aircraft will enable an extension of the life of the Griffon. Griffon flight simulators will be modified to conform to the fleet. Finally, the project will ensure integrated logistic support, supply of initial spares and training. The anticipated timeline is as follows: 2018 – Definition Approval (Definition is what should be done to meet the capability need, to determining how the preferred option will be implemented) 2020 – Implementation Approval, Request for Proposal Release, Contract Award 2024-2025 – Initial Operating Capability for Life-extended Griffons 2026 – Final Delivery It should be noted that this project has been delayed from its previous schedule. In 2015, the RCAF put definition approval for 2016. In addition, implementation, issuing of an RFP and awarding a contact were all to be done in 2018. Final delivery of the upgraded helicopters was to have taken place in 2024 under the old schedule. http://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/defence-watch/determining-how-to-upgrade-the-griffon-helicopter-a-focus-for-rcaf-this-year

  • U.S. isn’t worrying about Canada and missile defence, says Obama adviser

    January 18, 2018 | Local, Aerospace

    U.S. isn’t worrying about Canada and missile defence, says Obama adviser

    By Tim Naumetz. Published on Jan 11, 2018 4:49pm Canadians don't have to wring their hands over whether the country should sign on to the U.S. ballistic missile defence system, says a former top defence adviser to President Barack Obama. Washington is paying more attention to bigger Canadian defence issues such as the long-delayed acquisition of a fleet of new modern fighter jets, Lindsay Rodman, former director of defence policy and strategy for Obama's National Security Council, said in a Canadian interview streamed earlier this week. Rodman, a temporary U.S. expatriate who now is an international affairs fellow at the University of Ottawa, said in a podcast interview with the Canadian Global Affairs Institute that the missile defence question is not a major issue in U.S. military and security circles. “The question of ballistic missile defence has been really surprising to me since I came to Canada a little over a year ago now,” Rodman said in the interview with Global Affairs institute vice-president David Perry. “It is just not on the forefront of anyone's mind in the United States, but it is one of the first things that any Canadian wants to talk to you about the U.S. American alliance,” said Rodman, an attorney who also served in the Pentagon as Obama's senior adviser for international humanitarian policy. “The U.S. is much more concerned with just making sure that NORAD is healthy, that the NATO alliance is healthy, that our homeland defence is being well supported, and we know that we don't depend on Canada for ballistic missile defence. “We do depend on Canada's fighter capability in terms of how we've planned our North American defence, so making good on the promises that Canada has made is going to be more important than new promises that Canada could make in the future, which would be something like ballistic defence.” The Global Affairs Institute offered the podcast up earlier this week, but the interview was recorded on Dec. 18, the same day U.S. President Donald Trump released his administration's first national security strategy. It was only two years after President Obama released his second national security strategy, which Rodman said should have been in place for four years under the normal U.S. four-year cycle for renewing national security and military strategies. While explaining U.S. views on Canadian defence positions — particularly the first Canadian defence strategy released by the Trudeau government last June — Rodman told Perry that while Canada's overarching defence positions have rarely diverged after a change of government, Trudeau's new personal and political approaches to Canada's role in the world may have made a difference. “I would say that Justin Trudeau, just by nature of his international sort of celebrity status, brought a new cachet to Canada, and that's pretty useful,” she said. “Certainly, being in Canada now and learning the ins and outs about the political system a little bit more, I can appreciate the nuances in Canada's position much better.” Canada's new defence policy specifically ruled out Canadian involvement in U.S. ballistic missile defence, even after the topic had been raised multiple times in four months of cross-country consultations that preceded the defence review in 2016. Still, by last December, even Trudeau signalled that the government has not yet ruled the possibility out, and several military experts have advocated Canada's participation in a series of House of Commons and Senate committee hearings. “For a very close ally like Canada, the most important thing is interoperability,” said Rodman. “We not only depend on Canada to potentially help us out in the world, but in terms of our homeland defence there's no one we depend more on than Canada. We really need everything to be interoperable.” The most important question facing the government as it slowly moves toward a 2025 target for acquiring a fleet of 88 new fighter jets could be how the most sophisticated warplane in the world — the Lockheed Martin F-35 strike fighter — fares as it goes through a competition that will decide which aircraft Canada will buy. Interoperability with U.S. warplanes has been a central part of the argument favouring the F-35 acquisition for Canada. https://ipolitics.ca/2018/01/11/u-s-isnt-worrying-canada-missile-defence-says-obama-adviser/

  • Report could renew Canadian debate over U.S. missile defence system: defence analyst

    January 16, 2018 | Local, Aerospace

    Report could renew Canadian debate over U.S. missile defence system: defence analyst

    A European report forecasting a surge in billions of dollars worth of missile and missile defence sales worldwide over the next 10 years could renew Canadian debate over signing on to the U.S. missile defence system, a defence analyst says. The forecasting agency based in Amsterdam is offering a market report on missile systems to global defence production companies that forecasts a rise in the value of sales to $93 billion for 2027 — compared to $55 billion in 2018 — for a total of $725 billion in sales over the decade. In the summary of its industry report, ASDMedia BV says the main driver for missile production, including all types of missiles from ballistic to short range and air-to-air missiles, is an increase in “territorial conflicts.” “The market for missile defence systems is anticipated to be the largest category primarily due to the ongoing procurement of missile systems by countries of the Asia Pacific, North American and European regions,” the report says. The report was published recently, during the escalation of tension over North Korean nuclear missile launches, but prior to the missile attack scare from a false alarm in Hawaii on Saturday. The missile spending forecast could also be of interest to participants in an international conference the Canadian government is hosting in Vancouver this week on the North Korean standoff. Senior analyst with the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, David Perry, says the market forecast of missile sales reflects a concern the Department of National Defence included about missile proliferation in the Liberal government's first national defence policy earlier this year, which at the same time included no specific plans for a response to the problem. Although the Liberal strategy included references to ballistic missile defence and modernizing northern defence warnings systems along with the U.S., it did not take a position on the long-sensitive question of whether Canada should sign on to the U.S. ballistic missile defence system. “It was one of those strange bits of the policy where there was an identification of an increased concern and a threat, but then not really any specific itemization of what was going to be done about it,” said Perry. Perry, who took part in closed-door consultations with experts in the lead-up to the review, said the market forecasts, along with the ongoing North Korea crisis, indicate ballistic missile defence should be renewed in Canadian defence discussions, following a short-lived flirtation with the idea by the last Liberal government in 2005. This past August, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appeared to almost rule out any chance of discussions with the U.S. over ballistic missile defence, but in September said Canada was not considering the idea “for the time being.” “Based on the comments by the Prime Minister, I'm not expecting any urgent movement on ballistic missiles,” said Perry, who argued for Canadian involvement in missile defence during the policy consultations. “I'm curious in a strategic sense, international market observers are saying there's a growing market for this technology because the potential threat of missiles is proliferating, and you've got that (ambiguous) language reflected in the defence policy,” he told iPolitics. The head of Ottawa's Rideau Institute, founded as an advocate for the rule of international law and disarmament, said Perry's desire to renew ballistic missile defence discussions is a reflection of the defence industry's views. “In my view, there isn't actually a debate,” said Rideau Institute president Peggy Mason. “The defence industry lobby keeps raising it, but I think it's absolutely clear that this government, the Liberal government, the Justin Trudeau government, has no interest in reviewing this issue, so long as President Trump is President,” said Mason. “There are so many good reasons not to review it,”Mason told iPolitics, “but just the difficulty of trying to sell this, getting closer to the U.S. on a very controversial and very costly area while President Trump is in office...” https://ipolitics.ca/2018/01/16/report-renew-canadian-debate-u-s-missile-defence-system-defence-analyst/

  • Missile Defense Agency selects Raytheon for Ballistic Missile Defense System testing, modeling and simulation work

    January 15, 2018 | International, Aerospace, Land, Security

    Missile Defense Agency selects Raytheon for Ballistic Missile Defense System testing, modeling and simulation work

    TEWKSBURY, Mass., Jan. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- On Friday, January 12, Raytheon (NYSE:RTN) was awarded an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract with a stated maximum value of $641,758,000. Under this contract, the contractor will perform ballistic missile defense system (BMDS) test related activities for multiple radar platforms that includes planning, executing, and analyzing sensor performance in BMDS flight tests and ground tests for each test event defined in the BMDS integrated master test plan. The radar test contract effort also includes sensors modeling and simulation activities to include Open Systems Architecture Sensor Model (OSM) and Open Systems Architecture Signal Injector (OSI) development and maintenance, integration of OSI with hardware-in-the-loop radar representation, integration of OSI and OSM with the simulation framework, verification and validation support, and stakeholder/event support. This award is the result of a competitively awarded acquisition in which two offers were received. Fiscal 2017 and 2018 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $3,451,000 are being obligated at time of award. The Missile Defense Agency, Huntsville, Alabama, is the contracting activity (HQ0147-18-D-0003). About Raytheon Raytheon Company, with 2016 sales of $24 billion and 63,000 employees, is a technology and innovation leader specializing in defense, civil government and cybersecurity solutions. With a history of innovation spanning 95 years, Raytheon provides state-of-the-art electronics, mission systems integration, C5ITM products and services, sensing, effects, and mission support for customers in more than 80 countries. Raytheon is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts. Follow us on Twitter. Media Contact Jackie Gutmann 1.781.879.2789 idspr@raytheon.com SOURCE Raytheon Company http://raytheon.mediaroom.com/2018-01-15-Missile-Defense-Agency-selects-Raytheon-for-Ballistic-Missile-Defense-System-testing-modeling-and-simulation-work

  • Cascade Aerospace Awarded Contract to Modernize Mexican Air Force C-130 Hercules Aircraft

    January 11, 2018 | International, Aerospace

    Cascade Aerospace Awarded Contract to Modernize Mexican Air Force C-130 Hercules Aircraft

    Abbotsford, BC – Cascade Aerospace Inc. (Cascade) is pleased to announce that it has been awarded a contract for the avionics modernization of one Fuerza Aérea Mexicana (FAM) L-100 (C-130) Hercules aircraft. This contract follows on the recent delivery of two modernized C-130K Hercules aircraft delivered to the FAM and fitted with advanced digital avionics from Rockwell Collins. This program will be contracted through the Canadian Commercial Corporation (CCC) under the auspices of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Canadian and Mexican governments. ”Completing the C-130 fleet modernization represents a significant milestone for Cascade and affirms our excellent relationship with the Mexican Air Force as a support provider of choice since 2013,” said Cascade's EVP & COO, Kevin Lemke. “The upgrade of this aircraft will establish a common cockpit configuration for the entire FAM C-130 fleet thereby enhancing fleet capability, as well as providing efficiencies in maintenance, training, and operational availability.” This modernization program includes the installation and integration of an advanced Rockwell Collins Flight2 TM digital avionics suite. In addition, Cascade will provide operational and technical training for Mexican Air Force personnel at the company's facility and headquarters in Abbotsford, British Columbia. About Cascade Aerospace Cascade Aerospace, an operating unit of IMP Aerospace & Defence, is a leading Canadian specialty aerospace contractor that provides long-term integrated aircraft fleet support and program management, aircraft maintenance, modification, engineering & integrated logistics support to domestic and international military, government, and commercial customers. About Canadian Commercial Corporation (CCC) Established in 1946, the Canadian Commercial Corporation (CCC) is a Federal Crown corporation of the Government of Canada that acts as Canada's international contracting and procurement agency. CCC reports to Parliament through the Minister of International Trade. CCC acts as the prime contractor for foreign governments who wish to contract with Canadian companies and expertise through a government-to-government channel. CCC's strong relationships with international buyers and access to Canada's innovative industrial base, puts CCC in a unique position to facilitate and promote international trade. Media Contacts: Kim Tamminga Cascade Aerospace Direct: +604-557-2646 ktamminga@cascadeaerospace.com www.cascadeaerospace.com https://www.impgroup.com/newsitem.aspx?mid=3D58A7E8-8A48-4F41-B2A8-39AAFF70ABF6

  • Here’s how the Trump administration could make it easier to sell military drones

    December 20, 2017 | International, Aerospace

    Here’s how the Trump administration could make it easier to sell military drones

    WASHINGTON — The United States is actively pursuing a change to a major arms control treaty that would open the door for wider exports of military drones. The proposed change to the Missile Technology Control Regime would make it easier for nations to sell the systems, also known as unmanned aerial vehicles or UAVs, that fly under 650 km per hour, according to multiple sources who are aware of the efforts. The MTCR is an agreement among 35 nations that governs the export of missiles and UAVs. Under the terms of the MTCR, any “category-1” system capable of carrying 500-kilogram payloads for more than 300 kilometers is subject to a “strong presumption of denial.” Proponents of UAV exports argue that language, while appropriate for curtailing the sale of cruise missiles, should not group together expandable weapons and unmanned systems. Instead, they argue, UAVs should be looked at the same way fighter jets or other high-tech military vehicles are. As part of an effort to find a compromise, American officials floated a white paper during the latest plenary session on the MTCR in October, proposing new language to the treaty: that any air vehicle that flies under 650 kilometers per hour would drop to “category-2” and thus be subject to approval on a case-by-case basis. A State Department official confirmed to Defense News that the U.S. presented the white paper, and that American negotiators have zeroed in on the speed of the vehicles as a potential change to the treaty. However, the official declined to comment on the exact speed under consideration. “I can't confirm any specific numbers because it's treated — inside the MTCR — as proprietary ... particularly because there's a deliberative process,” the official said. “But I can tell you that speed is the thing that we, based on industry input and all, have looked at. And that's what we have discussed with partners. And I know other governments are also looking at speed as well, so we're all sort of coming to a similar conclusion.” Under the MTCR, a “presumption of denial” about exports for category-1 systems exists. In essence, that means countries tied into the MTCR need to have a very compelling case to sell them. However, the speed change, if adopted, would result in most drones used by the U.S. military dropping down from category-1 to category-2, allowing the U.S. to sell them through the traditional foreign military sale or direct commercial sale methods. “Treating drones as missiles is fundamentally incoherent. It reflects a 1980s view of the technology,” said Michael Horowitz, a former Pentagon official now with the University of Pennsylvania who has studied drone issues. “To the extent creating a speed delineation helps you get around that problem, it's a good practical solution.” The impact of speed Most medium-altitude, long-endurance systems like General Atomics' MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper fly at slow speeds, with the Reaper clocking in with a cruise speed of 230 mph or 370 kph, according to an Air Force facts sheet. Northrop Grumman's RQ-4 Global Hawk, a high-altitude ISR drone, flies only at a cruise speed of about 357 mph or 575 kph. The 650 kph ceiling would also keep the door open for companies developing cutting-edge rotorcraft that could be modified in the future to be unmanned — a key request made by the companies involved in the Future Vertical Lift consortium, said one industry source. Those companies include Bell Helicopter and a Sikorsky-Boeing team, both of which are developing high-speed rotorcraft that can fly at excess of 463 kph, or 250 knots, for the Army's Joint Multi Role technology demonstrator program. However, the limitation would ensure that some of the United States' most technologically advanced UAVs stay out of the grasp of other nations. For example, it would prevent the proliferation of jet-powered, fast moving flying wing drones like Boeing's Phantom Ray and Northrop Grumman's X-47B demonstrators, both of which can cruise at near-supersonic speeds. While the UAV industry wants the U.S. government to pick up the pace on drone export reform, the State Department and other agencies argue that a prudent approach is needed. For example, any change to the MTCR that loosens restrictions on low-speed drones also needs to be closely examined to ensure that missile technology is still strictly controlled. “We don't want any unintended consequences, so it has to be crafted carefully. We don't want to inadvertently drop something else out like a cruise missile,” the State Department official said. The focus on speed is particularly smart at a time when countries are focused on increasing the speed of their munitions, Horowitz said. He pointed to growing investments in hypersonic weapons as an example where creating a speed delineation in the MTCR would allow the U.S. to push for greater UAV exports while “holding the line on exports of next-generation missiles.” Industry desires Industry has long argued that the United States has taken an overly proscriptive route, hamstringing potential drone sales to allies and pushing them into the arms of more nefarious actors such as China, the other major UAV producer on the worldwide market. Modifying the MTCR is just one facet of the Trump administration's review of drone export policy, which also includes taking a second look at domestic regulations that can be amended by the president at will. Because changes to the MTCR require consensus among the regime's 35 member countries, industry sees it as a direly-needed, but long-term solution. “Now we have lighter-than-air vehicles; we have intelligence, surveillance reconnaissance [UAVs]. We still have cruise missiles, we have aircraft that could autonomous for cargo and other purposes. But [the MTCR] doesn't distinguish between any of that, so a revisit of those MTCR rules is in order for things that fly and can fly autonomously,” said Aerospace Industries Association President David Melcher during a December 14 roundtable with reporters. American firms are particularly concerned about losing out on sales in the Middle East. China has already exported its Wing Loong — a medium altitude, long endurance UAV that resembles General Atomics' MQ-1 Predator — to multiple countries worldwide, including some close U.S. partners such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Meanwhile, sales of U.S.-made drones have been rarer, with many Middle Eastern countries such as the UAE only able to buy unarmed versions of American UAVs, even though those nations regularly purchase more technologically advanced weaponry like fighter jets from the United States. The State official noted that any change in the MTCR would not need to wait until the next plenary session, but could be introduced in some form as early as an April technical meeting. And at least one industry source was optimistic about the administration's MTCR reform plan. “They're taking a pretty smart process in not trying to tackle everything at once, but trying to get some of the language corrected in small bites,” the source said. “I don't see this as being an overnight process. I don't think we're going to end up in the next six months with a brand new MTCR policy.” However, Horowitz warned that the nature of the MTCR, where any single country could veto such a change, means getting any changes will not be easy. Russia, for example, could block the move not on technical reasons but geopolitical ones, given relations between Moscow and Washington. If that happens, Horowitz noted, the U.S. could potentially look to apply the 650 kph speed definition on its own, something possible because of the voluntary nature of the MTCR. https://www.defensenews.com/air/2017/12/19/heres-how-the-trump-administration-could-make-it-easier-to-sell-military-drones/

  • Government uses procurement to help small businesses grow and create jobs

    December 18, 2017 | Local, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security

    Government uses procurement to help small businesses grow and create jobs

    Innovative Solutions Canada is a $100-million program to fuel innovation and create middle-class jobs December 14, 2017 – Ottawa As the single-largest purchaser of Canadian goods and services, the Government of Canada will use procurement to help Canadian small businesses innovate and create employment opportunities for Canadians. The Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, together with the Honourable Bardish Chagger, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister of Small Business and Tourism, today announced the $100-million Innovative Solutions Canada program that invites Canadian small businesses to develop novel solutions to challenges proposed by federal departments and agencies. Whether the challenge is developing a way to make armour more resistant to chemicals or improving wireless connectivity in connected vehicles, the federal department or agency will ask small businesses to innovate and propose a solution. The government will work with the winning business and act as its first customer, helping the companies take their idea to market and advance the next generation of solutions that can become viable commercial products. Twenty federal departments and agencies will participate in the new program and identify problems spanning the military, economic and environmental sectors. Innovative Solutions Canada is a key component of the Government of Canada's Innovation and Skills Plan, a multi-year strategy to create well-paying jobs for the middle class. Quotes “Our government's new Innovative Solutions Canada program is a big winner on several fronts. We're being proactive and transforming our challenges into opportunities—opportunities for innovation, economic growth and small business success that will result in a vibrant innovation economy and more middle-class jobs for Canadians.” – The Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development “We believe innovative Canadian small businesses are well positioned to help the government solve some of its more persistent challenges. Through Innovative Solutions Canada, we are asking entrepreneurs to develop new products and services that will help to solve these challenges, while also enabling these entrepreneurs as they work to expand to new markets and sell to new customers around the world. The benefits from this program are clear: the Government of Canada will be able to acquire new products and services that will improve our work, while hard-working small business owners will be able to grow their businesses and create more well-paying middle-class jobs.” – The Honourable Bardish Chagger, Minister of Small Business and Tourism “Our community of early-stage investors, incubators and accelerators provides much-needed coaching, connections and capital to Canada's early-stage companies seeking to grow and scale up. Many times, their ‘first customer' serves as critical validation that allows these companies to penetrate their markets locally and globally. The Innovative Solutions Canada program announced today will help Canadian companies gain early customer traction while also allowing Canadians to benefit from the adoption of homegrown innovative solutions.” ‑ Sandi Gilbert, Chair of the Board, National Angel Capital Organization (NACO Canada) Quick Facts Program funding will come from the 20 departments and agencies participating in Innovative Solutions Canada. Each department will set aside 1 percent of its research and development expenditures for this initiative. Innovative Solutions Canada is modelled on the U.S. Small Business Innovation Research program and is an essential component of the Government of Canada's efforts to help small businesses. Innovative Solutions Canada will encourage submissions from businesses owned and led by women, Indigenous peoples, youth and other traditionally under-represented groups. https://www.canada.ca/en/innovation-science-economic-development/news/2017/12/government_uses_procurementtohelpsmallbusinessesgrowandcreatejob.html

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