The Short Report, August 28, 2019: International education, social enterprise, industrial R&D

Innovative Solutions Canada launched three new challenges from Health Canada: develop a tool to help medical professionals rapidly diagnose an infection and identify whether it stems from a virus or bacteria; create a tool that would use artificial intelligence and deep learning to help specialists quickly and effectively match organ donors and compatible recipients; and in a cost-effective way to test mixtures containing micro-organisms to determine the risks they may pose to human health and the environment. Successful small businesses may receive up to $150,000 to refine their R&D, and if accepted into Phase 2, receive up to $1 million to develop a working prototype. - Newswire

Communitech, in partnership with Thomson Reuters Labs and Gowling WLG, announced “Tipping the Scales,” a six-day immersive bootcamp in October for Canadian startups in the legal, tax and regulatory fields. - Financial Post

At Sustainable Development Technology Canada's annual public meeting, Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains announced $56 million in funding for 18 cleantech companies across Canada. Canada is number one in the G20 for cleantech innovation. The clean technology market is set to exceed $2.5 trillion by 2022. - Newswire

The federal government will spend nearly $30-million over the next five years to diversify global recruiting for international students coming to study at Canadian colleges and universities. The government will focus its marketing in countries with a growing middle class and where post-secondary capacity is limited. These efforts are part of the $148-million International Education Strategy (2019-2024) released last week. - The Globe and Mail

Ottawa will invest $3 million in WE Charity's WE Social Entrepreneurs initiative to support the creation of approximately 200 youth-led enterprises dedicated to addressing social issues at a community level, and will allow 30 already established social enterprises to become investment‑ready. - Newswire

The Government of Canada is investing up to $4.8 million in 21 women-owned or -led businesses and three organizations supporting women entrepreneurship in Quebec: Microcrédit Montréal, Youth Employment Services Foundation, and Fédération des agricultrices du Québec. This funding is administered through Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions. - Newswire

Statistics Canada released its latest industrial research and development characteristics. The report states that in-house industrial R&D spending dipped 0.2% from 2016 to $18.7 billion in 2017, and preliminary estimates indicate a further drop to $17.7 billion in 2018, as well as a signal of intent to spend $18.3 billion on R&D activities in 2019. - Statistics Canada

The Institute for Research on Public Policy has released a study concluding that, despite having right conditions for innovation, Canada's record on patents and IP development is modest at best. Researchers Nancy Gallini from Vancouver School of Economics and Aidan Hollis from the University of Calgary found that Canadians are increasingly likely to transfer or sell their IP to foreign entities rather than continuing to develop it in Canada. - IRPP

Transport Canada has selected two small businesses in Waterloo — LabForge Inc and Brisk Synergies Tech Corp — to develop a new system to enhance the safety of vulnerable road users by equipping commercial vehicles with sensors to alert drivers to possible collisions. - Newswire

THE GRAPEVINE

Montreal AI start-up Deeplite announced the appointment of Nick Romano as its President and CEO. Romano will guide the company toward full commercialization of its software platform that automatically improves the speed and energy-efficiency of deep neural networks. Romano is a serial entrepreneur who founded and grew Messagepoint (f.k.a. Prinova) into a global PROFIT500 company. - Newswire

The Transition Accelerator, a new national organization seeking to solve major business or social challenges where significant GHG reductions can be built into the solutions, has appointed Dan Wicklum its CEO. Wicklum was CEO of Canada's Oil Sands Innovation Alliance (COSIA), executive director of the Canadian Forest Innovation Council, and a senior manager at Environment and Climate Change Canada and Natural Resources Canada. - Newswire

Canadian Science Policy Fellow Shawn McGuirk has been promoted to the position of Senior Policy Advisor at NSERC. McGuirk is a doctoral candidate and CIHR Vanier Scholar at the Goodman Cancer Research Centre at McGill University. - LinkedIn