GE Canada Partnership Shines Spotlight on Nova Scotia Entrepreneurs

Government is partnering with GE Canada and GE Ventures Licensing to provide Nova Scotia entrepreneurs access to GE intellectual property, and to help bring new technology, products and services to market faster.

Michel Samson, Minister of Economic and Rural Development and Tourism, announced the partnership today, Nov. 6, at the Innovacorp Enterprise Centre in Halifax with representatives from GE, including Ross Hornby, vice-president, government relations and policy, and Bernard Ibrahim, vice-president, technology licensing.

"This is a truly unique opportunity for Nova Scotia entrepreneurs to realize their full growth potential as well as an example of One Nova Scotia in action," said Mr. Samson. "By putting smart technology in the hands of smart entrepreneurs, we can bring great ideas to market faster."

Nova Scotia is the second province in Canada, after Alberta, to collaborate with GE on intellectual property sharing.

In addition to GE's intellectual property, the company will also work with government to give entrepreneurs access to technical resources for help with product development and demonstration, business advisory services, and market intelligence.

Government, through existing development tools, will provide a mix of supports up to $500,000, depending on the needs of each project. The government hopes to support two Nova Scotia companies this year while working closely with GE to establish a long-term relationship.

"Working together with government and this province's growing base of technology entrepreneurs, we all have something to be very excited about," said Mr. Hornby. "GE is eager to explore opportunities to help build new technology leaders, and Nova Scotia is the perfect place to do it."

GE representatives will work with some of the most promising Nova Scotia entrepreneurs to determine whether there is suitable intellectual property for them. GE will then help them take their technology to market, and provide better customer solutions. More information on this collaboration can be found at www.novascotia.ca/econ/ .