So what are these companies looking at doing?  Well, it’s everything from R&D to manufacturing.  Lucky for us we have we cover the full gamut in Ontario. Couple this with the fact that Ontario has one of the best Feed In Tariff (FIT) programs in the world and you have a recipe for investment attraction.  Out of the 21 companies we visited, three are already considering a first visit to Ontario.  Hard to believe someone is visiting Ontario for the first time….who knew??  Two of the three will likely come directly to Ottawa. And why wouldn’t they…this is the Nation’s Capital with over 1,800 advanced technology companies and whole bunch of highly skilled workers, not to mention our city ROCKS!! 

Our job at OCRI is to facilitate meetings with industry leaders, academia and, of course, the government.  This triple helix, as I call it, will give them a holistic view of city and our selling attributes.  Hopefully this is the icing on the cake that gets them to locate in our great city!

Take for instance Ontario’s feed-in-tariff program , which is a comprehensive, guaranteed pricing structure of renewable electricity production.  At .80 cents/Kw, it is an easy conversation to have with a potential foreign investor. Add in the Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) tax credits and you have the makings of a winning formula.  This brings me to my recent trip to Intersolar Munich, June 9-11.  

Intersolar Expo is Europe’s largest international trade fair for solar technology. It focuses on photovoltaics, solar thermal technology and solar architecture. All the movers and shakers in the cleantech industry attend this show and so too did the Ontario Technology Corridor (OTC) delegation. OTC is a consortium established in 2003 by OCRI, the Greater Toronto Marketing Alliance and Canada’s Technology Triangle. In recent years, both the regions of London and Niagara were added – representing Canada’s ICT strength and most recently cleantech.  OTC’s main mandate is to attract businesses to Ontario. The collective strength of the OTC gives each region an unparallelled global competitive advantage. 

Prior to our visit to Intersolar, we were able to secure 60 meetings with businesses that may consider expansion in North America.  We garnered this type of interest largely because Ontario’s feed-in-tariffs are so lucrative.  Couple this with Canada’s economic stability, other tax incentive, excellent skilled workers and a great quality of life and you have a recipe for potential investment.  Of the 60 companies that we met with, five have agreed to stop in Ontario on their way to Intersolar San Francisco in July.

We look forward to welcoming them to OTC territory and giving them a first-hand view of what each region has to offer.