Federal procurement program to boost local R&D for military tech
by The Canadian Press
Public Works Minister Rona Ambrose said the government is more effective as a customer than as a subsidizer.
CALGARY—The federal government has made permanent a pilot project which encourages Canadian companies to develop products and get them from the lab to the marketplace.
The program gives small and medium-sized businesses contracts for pre-commercial inventions or services in hopes of creating high-value jobs.
The government provides feedback, performance testing and the opportunity to enter the marketplace if the new goods or services are successful.
Public Works Minister Rona Ambrose told a gathering of defence, security and aerospace executives in Calgary the program now has an additional component directed toward military procurement.
She said the government is more effective as a customer than as a subsidizer.
Ambrose said it’s estimated that every $1 billion in defence or security spending creates or sustains 18,000 jobs and $710 million in gross domestic product.
