BOSTON - Minister of International Trade Teresa Wat signed a memorandum of understanding with the Canadian Consulate General in Boston today to establish a formal working relationship and ensure that the Canadian Technology Accelerator (CTA@Boston) is fully utilized by qualified tech startups from B.C.

Wat and the Canadian Consul General in Boston, Patrick Binns, signed the MOU during a tour of the CTA@Boston facilities at the Cambridge Innovation Centre this morning. The three-month Government of Canada CTA program provides resources and mentoring from business leaders and venture capitalists to Canadian and B.C. startups, including life-sciences, information and communication technology, and other knowledge-based sector companies.

The MOU signed today supports a one-year Specified Purposed Account Agreement between the Ministry of International Trade and the Consulate General of Canada in Boston to secure a B.C. component in the CTA@Boston program. As part of the MOU, the British Columbia Innovation Council (BCIC), which accelerates technology commercialization in the province by supporting startups and developing entrepreneurs, will promote the CTA@Boston program to its partners, including companies in its BC Acceleration Network.

Over the past two years, approximately 24 B.C. companies have used Canadian Technology Accelerators in California to secure international sales, partners and investment. Four B.C. companies - Precision Nanosystems, Arazy Group, Shift Health Paradigms, and Ayogo Health -already have participated in the CTA@Boston program. Massachusetts has the largest concentration of biotech firms in the world and the second largest concentration of medical device companies in the United States.

British Columbia identified technology as a priority sector in the BC Jobs Plan and has produced a Technology Strategy that is helping the province develop talent for its knowledge-based economy, open and expand new international markets, and attract investment capital for B.C. technology companies.

To help advance that Technology Strategy, Wat will join Consul General Binns at a roundtable event with the Canadian Entrepreneurs in New England, a non-profit organization that mentors Canadian and B.C. technology companies and helps them secure funding and access to the U.S. market.

The roundtable meetings and CTA@Boston events are part of Wat's five-day trade and investment mission to the U.S. east coast. Yesterday she opened the B.C. Pavilion at Seafood Expo North America, and she will be in New York for a series of meetings with investors tomorrow before returning to B.C. on Wednesday.

Quick Facts:

• British Columbia has over 6,000 companies in the information and communications technology sector and an additional 1,200 companies in the wireless technologies sector. They employ a talented workforce of over 50,000 people and generate over $11 billion in revenue each year.
• The B.C. health and life sciences sector includes over 100 bio-pharmaceutical companies, 60 medical device developers and 30 bio-products companies. They collectively generate roughly $1 billion per year in revenues and employ, directly and indirectly, an estimated 14,000 skilled workers.
• B.C. is home to 50 research centres and eight centres of excellence, including Wavefront, Canada's national centre for wireless technology research, commercialization and growth, and Genome BC, which manages a portfolio of $625 million spread across 180 genomics research projects and science and technology platforms.

Learn More:

Read the B.C. Technology Strategy:http://www.bcjobsplan.ca/wp-content/uploads/TechnologyStrategy2012.pdf

Find out more about CTA@Boston: http://www.tradecommissioner.gc.ca/eng/document.jsp?did=141347

Quotes:

Teresa Wat, Minister of International Trade and Minister Responsible for the Asia Pacific Strategy and Multiculturalism -

"The Ministry of International Trade is committed to opening markets and attracting investment for British Columbia's world-class technology businesses and institutions. These new agreements will give our tech startups the boost they need to compete and thrive on the international stage."

Thierry Weissenburger, Consul and Senior Trade Commissioner, Consulate General of Canada (Boston) -

"We have been pleased to work with four successful B.C. companies since the launch of the Canadian Technology Accelerator in Boston last year, and thanks to this new arrangement hope to achieve even greater results for our B.C. clients and the same type of economic impact for British Columbia that has been achieved with our California CTAs."

Media Contact:

Media Relations
Ministry of International Trade and Responsible for the Asia Pacific Strategy and Multiculturalism
778 977-0298