SSMIC links entrepreneurs to $ to hire experts

The Sault Ste. Marie Innovation Centre (SSMIC) and partner - the National Research Council of Canada’s Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC-IRAP), helped five local businesses grow through the Early Stage Innovation Assistance Program (ESIAP).

Launched in 2005, the goal of the ESIAP was to provide support services to five small firms to assist in their survival and growth. The program provided funding for SMEs in the area of Information Technology (IT) to hire professional consulting services.

“The five participating companies found the projects to be tremendously valuable to the growth of their businesses,” said Gilles Boisvert, NRC-IRAP. “Success of these projects is due to the selection of appropriate companies for the program and the work put into the projects from the companies, consultants/contractors, and the administration and guidance of the Innovation Centre.”

The five participating businesses were Faith Online, Ontario Teleconnect, Wildlife See-er, Digital Webworks, and ETRIBE. The SSMIC worked with each of the businesses to identify and locate the expert services that they required and helped each business submit their funding requests.

“The project has increased dramatically the chances of securing one or more clients in the short term, and better positioned us to demonstrate value through measured return on investment,” said Jason Collins, Faith Online. “We’ve learned a lot in a short time.”

The services requested by each of the businesses varied from assistance in production and manufacturing to business strategy, and each business remarked that their business is better positioned after the ESIAP to grow and prosper.