SDTC Looking for Canada’s Next Cleantech Innovators

Ottawa,February 18, 2015 – – The Government of Canada and Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC)  are looking for the next wave of innovative cleantech entrepreneurs.

The SD Tech Fund™ and the SD Natural Gas Fund™ are open for applications from February 18 to April 15, 2015.

Through the SD Tech Fund™, SDTC supports technologies that address the challenges of Clean Air, Soil, Water and Climate Change, including technology solutions focused on these current technology priority areas:

• Responsible resource development: Mitigate environmental impacts associated with Canada’s natural resource sector through technologies in the oil and gas, mining, and forestry sectors.
• Resource and energy efficiency: Technologies that encourage energy efficiency in buildings and industrial processes, with a focus on industrial water use efficiency.
• Clean energy: Technologies that enable clean energy production, distributed power generation and energy storage as well as technologies related to carbon capture and storage, integrated energy systems, and biorefinery/biochemical production.
• Northern and remote communities: Innovative technologies and solutions for self-sufficiency in smaller communities, such as food security, heavy-lift transportation, small-scale renewable energy and microgrid applications.
• Next generation transportation: Technologies related to next generation vehicles having reduced emissions and higher energy efficiency, with a focus on freight transportation.
• Agriculture: Technologies that increase yield and improve temperature and drought resistance of agricultural crops, mitigate land-use changes and biodiversity loss and diversify farm incomes. 

The SD Natural Gas Fund™, a collaboration with the Canadian Gas Association, focuses on the following priority areas.

• Residential (small-scale affordable CHP units, ultra-efficient water heaters, technologies that improve the efficiency of residential heating and/or cooling).
• Commercial (technologies that improve the efficiency of heating systems, measurement and data management to better control natural gas consumption, natural gas cooling systems).
• Industrial (higher-efficiency industrial heating equipment, CO2 capture systems, less energy-intensive hydrogen production).
• Power generation (higher efficiency power generation, emissions control technologies, natural gas storage solutions for remote locations).
• Transportation (more efficient and lower emission natural gas engines, alternative natural gas engines, lower-cost solutions).
• Renewable natural gas (technologies that improve cleanup economics, cost-effective small-scale anaerobic digesters).

“Cleantech is at the nexus of responsible resource development and environmental goals,” said Jane E. Pagel, Acting President and CEO of SDTC.

“Canada is a hotbed of entrepreneurial spirit, and SDTC is eager to work with those entrepreneurs to get their technologies to market. These funds will put investments to work supporting job creation and SME business growth opportunities, helping Canada make its mark in a market valued at over $3 trillion.”

Quick facts

• On behalf of the Government of Canada, SDTC helps bring Canadian clean technologies closer to market, readying them for growth and export markets.
• Through its SD Tech Fund™, SDTC helps companies through the critical juncture when capital and scaling costs become challenges and the risk profile deters other investors.
• The SDTC portfolio is currently comprised of 269 clean technology projects with a total value of $2.5 billion, of which over $1.8 billion is leveraged primarily from the private-sector.
• The SD Natural Gas Fund™ brings together contributions from Canadian Gas Association members to match contributions from SDTC’s SD Tech Fund™, up to a combined total of $30 million over three years.
• With a portfolio of companies under management valued at more than $2 billion, SDTC is positioning cleantech as a driver of jobs, productivity and economic prosperity.

For more information, contact:

Application Process:
Flora Livesey

Funding Advisor. SDTC
Tel: 613.234-6313 ext. 231

applications@sdtc.ca