Minister's Message
Investment in innovation is fundamental to growing Canada’s economy and maintaining our position as a global innovation leader.
The Global Innovation Clusters, known as the Superclusters during the period of this report, bring together businesses, academia, not-for-profit organizations, and governments to advance innovation at the speed of business. The clusters focus on highly innovative Canadian industries, including plant-based protein agri-food; advanced manufacturing; ocean-based industries; artificial intelligence; and digital technologies.
From the beginning, our government’s investment in the clusters has been about finding new and innovative ways to build connections. By incentivizing collaboration and growing strong Canadian ecosystems, the Global Innovation Clusters are generating good, well-paying jobs across the country, developing a highly skilled and diverse workforce, and contributing to our economic recovery by creating stronger and more resilient economic growth.
And the numbers speak for themselves. As of March 31, the clusters have approved more than 490 projects worth over $2.1 billion and involving over 2,100 partners. This includes more than 80 COVID-19 response projects with a total investment of over $225 million.
Our government will continue to build on the success of this collaborative model. Budget 2022 is proposing an additional $750 million investment over the next six years to further support the growth and development of the clusters. We look forward to seeing the clusters grow their impact, including in key priority areas such as fighting climate change and improving supply chain resiliency.
Over the past four years, the clusters have supported innovators, researchers, and entrepreneurs to grow bold ideas into global opportunities through better access to experience and expertise, in turn advancing Canada’s edge internationally. I am proud to see that each cluster is propelling innovation beyond our borders into the global market.
Protein Industries Canada in particular is positioning Canada’s leadership as a global source of high-quality plant protein and plant-based co-products. Over this past year, Protein Industries Canada has led cutting-edge projects: from the development of novel oat ingredients and nutritionally superior oat-based food and beverage products, to working towards securing Canada’s food supply chain by expanding Canada’s domestic processing and manufacturing capacity. Protein Industries Canada also launched, and began to implement, The Road to $25 Billion, a comprehensive and ambitious sector-wide strategy aimed at capturing 10 per cent of the ingredients for the global plant-based food market.
Thank you to everyone involved with Protein Industries Canada for your perseverance during the challenges we have faced over the past year and for your commitment to strengthening our innovation ecosystems and helping to establish a diverse and skilled workforce ready for the jobs of the future.
