The Canadian Trade Commissioner Service manages the Canadian Technology Accelerators (CTA) in New York, San Francisco & Silicon Valley, Boston, and Philadelphia, global clusters for technology and entrepreneurship. This initiative provides those Canadian start-ups in information and communication technology, digital and social media, gaming, clean technologies, and life sciences with access to unique resources and contacts that foster their international growth. The CTAs make available free office space for three to six months where physical offices are located within existing business incubators. The CTAs help you to refine your business model, collect competitive intelligence, pursue key clients, access financing sources, and engage strategic partners.

1. Canadian Technology
Accelerator

2. The Canadian Trade Commissioner Service (TCS)
Canada’s most comprehensive network
of international trade professionals
Located in:
more than 150
cities worldwide,
and
10 offices across
Canada

3. Our U.S. Consulate Network

4. The TCS promotes Canada’s economic
interests in the global marketplace
Our Clients:
are primarily small and
medium companies;
are established in Canada;
Seeking to do business
abroad; and
have researched their
market(s)
We help clients:
•Export
•Invest abroad
•Seek technology and capital
•Develop R&D partnerships

5. Delivering value to businesses
We help companies grow globally and lower costs of doing
business through four key services:
Preparation for
Preparation for
International Markets
International Markets
Market Potential
Market Potential
Assessment
Assessment
Qualified Contacts
Qualified Contacts
Problem Solving
Problem Solving

6. Canada Assets & Challenges
•
Strong research/engineering capacity and talents
•
Good government incentives and programs
•
Internationally oriented businesses
•
Weak innovation commercialization and global growth track record
•
Limited pool of experienced entrepreneurs and mentors
•
Limited risk capital:
o Some areas have early stage/seed money (non dilutive cap fed
programs, new provincial programs)
o
Little growth financing for technology-based businesses

7. •
Our Goal:
Growing Canadian SMEs and Startups
Accelerate Start Up Growth (or Failure)…and
beyond (reaching mainstream customers)
•
Give access to supply chains of global industry
leaders (Fortune 500)
•
Catalyze emerging sectors and market trends
for Canadian industry
…but where in the US?

8. Key Local Success Factors
•
•
•
•
Strong local culture of world-class innovation which allows
Canadian firms to benchmark their technology against global
standards
Presence of engaged corporate tech scouts looking to
identify trend-setting technologies and incorporate them into
their global value chains
Concentration of Venture capital/ Financing
A large community of experienced and successful
entrepreneurs willing to give time to act as coaches and
mentors for CTA participants – Ideally Canadian Expats
“It is repeatedly the most valuable component to the ultimate
success of the Canadian startups that participate in CTAs”

9. Scientific and Engineering
Powerhouses
All R&D
Rank
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
State
California
New Jersey
Texas
Massachusetts
Washington
Maryland
New York
a
R&D intensity (R&D/GDP ratio)
$millions
81,323
20,713
20,316
20,090
16,696
16,605
16,486
State
(%)
New Mexico
District of Columbia
Maryland
Massachusetts
Connecticut
Washington
New Jersey
7.58
6.15
5.92
5.53
5.1
4.96
4.28
$billions
78
96.8
280.5
363.1
222.2
336.3
484.3
World top academic and tech transfer institutions in these markets
*Canada’s GERD in 2008=US$27,8 Billion

10. THE INNOVATION FACTORY…
TOP PATENTING U.S. STATES
Calendar Year 2011
NUMBER OF UTILITY PATENTS
GRANTED
STATE
28,148
CALIFORNIA
8,847
NEW ENGLAND (MA - 5,191)
7,584
TEXAS
6,956
NEW YORK
3852
NEW JERSEY
Total Patents Granted of U.S. origin: 108,626
Total Patents Granted of Canadian origin: 5,754
Source: US Patent Office

11. Venture Capital: Show me the money!
Source: PWC Money Tree

12. Fortune 500 2012 List – Top US Corporate
HQs concentration
New York: 50 Companies
California: 53 Companies
New England: 27 Companies
New Jersey: 21 Companies
+ numerous American HQs of other global
companies

13. Canadian Executive Associations or other Canada
Friendly Groups

14. CANADIAN TECHNOLOGY ACCELERATOR
Canadian Start-ups on Steroids
Longer Engagement in Market:
Short Intense Exposure
•CTA@Plug and Play
•CTA@Rocketspace
•CTA@MissionBay
•CTA@NYC
•CTA@Boston
•CTA@Cleantech
•CTA@HealthIT
Qualification
Mentoring/Access
IN CANADA PARTNERSHIPS
KEY US TECHNOLOGY HUBS
GROWTH

15. In Canada Qualification
Referrals:
On-going referrals by trustable partners, e.g., NRC’s IRAP,
DFATD Regional Offices, BDC, ACOA, selected provincial
partners, national or regional startup competitions
In-Canada accelerator program: GrowLab; FounderFuel,
Propel ICT, Volta, Xtreme, Jolt, Hyperdrive
Participants in Consulates strategic initiatives/missions
Selection:
-On a competitive basis
-Call for Applications
-Local expert selection committees & TCS Consulate team

16. WHO QUALIFIES?
•
Startups (90%)
• Have a differentiated technology for a sizeable market, a credible
team in place, ideally have first users/customers and have already
received some funding
• Need to launch product globally, acquire strategic partners, secure
financing, and gain entrepreneurial inspiration and business models.
•
Established SMEs (10%)
•
•
Have an established product line, are in business for several years but
need to expand faster and build a global company
Need to access large US and global corporate partners/clients,
develop new channels, adapt their business model.
Differentiated Technology / Market Traction / Potential to scale

17. Key Success Factors for CTA participants
•
•
•
•
•
Have worked with in-Canada partners
A clear expression of the company value proposition
and growth objective
A preliminary sense of specific contacts they should
meet and why
A good understanding of the various growth financing
mechanism
A short pitch deck that they have delivered before

18. •
“Short exposure” programs are developed in Silicon Valley,
New York, Philadelphia, and Boston
•
Groups of 20-25 Selected Canadian companies travels to
Silicon Valley, Boston, NYC, Philadelphia
•
Mentoring sessions with local mentor groups
•
Meetings with corporate players/ investors/ networking
•
Also specialized missions: TechWomen, Health IT, etc.
•
Steep competition: routinely between 80 and 200 vetted
applications are received

19. The Silicon Valley
•Trend
setting region
•Entrepreneurial culture
•Leading Venture Capital centre
•Strong university and R&D
•Thinks BIG !!

20. Canadian Technology Accelerator@PlugandPlay
Connecting Canadian companies to Silicon Valley
• Six offices
• Free space for up to 4 months
• Access to TCS/Consulate, PnP, and C100
connection services
After 4 ½ years:
•More than110 companies
supported
•Results: increased sales, new
jobs in Canada, funding events,
strategic partnerships

21. Canadian Technology Accelerator@RocketSpace
Connecting Canadian companies with San Francisco
•SF social scene
•C100 mentoring (C100
•Open desks concept
Opened Spring 2011
Heart of SOMA district
Eight seats + one office
Focus on Digital media
and gaming
• More than 35 companies
•
•
•
HQs)

22. Canadian Technology Accelerator @ Mission Bay
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Launched in March 2012
Life-Sciences focussed
for up to six months
4 companies at a time
Access to industry leaders and advisors
Participation in matchmaking, entrepreneur development
programs and investor events
Access to lab facilities
A dozen participants to date actively developing business!

24. CTA Success Stories
“The CTA@SF program literally changed the trajectory of our company.
We went from a small business with modest exit options to raising a
significant round of financing from prominent US and Canadian investors
and signing a huge partnership. Since establishing our presence in SF,
we've now set our sights on a much bigger opportunity, which would
almost certainly not have been the case had we continued to grow our
company in Canada alone.”
Top Hat Monocle (Ontario) is a web- and mobile-based classroom response system that
engages students and provides professors with the real-time feedback on student
understanding.
•Founded in 2009 and joined CTA@SF in January 2012 with the goal of developing a strong
presence in the US
•Adjusted their business model based on learnings in Silicon Valley (Pivot)
•The company has 25 full-time employees and is in the process of hiring 20-30 sales reps
and 10 more developers in Canada in mid 2012
•The company has seen more than $2M in sales immediately following the CTA (more that
$5M forcasted this yr) and its products are used in 85 university campuses around the world
– including Harvard, UPenn, UCLA & Virginia Tech)
•$8 million in series A financing in July 2012

25. New York City
• The world’s capital for advertising, media, commerce,
financial services
• Increasingly taking center-stage as a hot-bed for
internet-based technology entrepreneurship
NYC market is geared to supporting start-ups looking to:
• Strengthening angel / VC investor networks
• Landing a marquee client / strategic partnerships
• Exploring expansion of business development
operations into NYC

26. Canadian Technology Accelerator @NYC
•
•
•
•
•
launched in February 2012
Located at General Assembly at the heart of the NYC tech community.
Specializes in media, advertising, publishing, and retail/e-commerce.
The CTA@NYC houses six Canadian companies every quarter
Orientation program (3 days) with access to network of mentors &
business contacts
• Mid-term program (2 days) with Demo Day
• 45 Canadian startups have been through CTA@NYC
General Assembly announced that
they were closing their coworking
space effective January 1, 2014.
General Assembly has been a great
partner. We will announce a new
partnership in the coming months.

27. Alumni Network:
Adfinitum, Authintic, BFB Online, BRIKA, BusBud, Buyosphere, BuzzBuzzHome,
Cole & Parker, Cream.HR, Crowdsourced Testing, Datacratic, Elevate, Engagio,
Frank & Oak, FundingMatters, Guestful, GreenOwl, Hovr.it, iThinkSecurity, Kytephone,
Live Insite, Loose Button, MavenSay, Mobovivo, Ooka Island, Organimi, PetroFeed,
Picatic, PO-MO Inc, Pressly, Robotics Design, SendToNews, ShinyAds, Shopcaster,
Social Scavenger, SpeakerFile, SweetIQ, Tabillo, TouchBistro, Uken Games, Wantering,
Wedding Republic, WhereCloud, Zighra
Recruitment for Cohort #9 (Mar 5 to Jun 3, 2014) will be launched at the end of January
2014.
Sign-up here to receive call for applications: ow.ly/oV7tA
For more info:
http://www.can-am.gc.ca/new-york/offices-bureaux/cta_media.aspx?lang=eng

28. Success Stories
NEW CLIENTS
Adfinitum
St. John’s, NL
CTA Group 2 (Summer 2012)
NEW INVESTORS
BusBud
•Montreal, QC
•CTA Group 5 (Spring 2013)
Adfinitum Global Advertising Database to
monitor competitive data
BusBud is the “Expedia” for bus travel
worldwide.
Success :
Expansion into NYC market which gave
company credibility in the market. Resulted
in landing a global confectionary company,
a global IT services group, and a global
credit card provider
Success:
Accelerating fundraising efforts by exposing
company to several potential investors (as
well as advisors to guide decision-making).
Resulted in BusBud raising $1 M Series A
with iNovia (Canada/NYC based) and a
follow-on from White Star (NYC/Londonbased).

29. Boston
-
MIT, Harvard + 100 colleges
Five of the top six NIH-funded hospitals
Virtually all global bio-pharmas + 180 biotech firms
Strong Tech cluster (EMC, Akamai, Nuance, Microsoft,
Google, Amazon)
- 120 VC firms + many Corporate VCs
- Thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem: Strong Angel groups,
CIC, MassChallenge, Tech Stars, MIT Venture Mentoring,
etc

30. •
•
•
•
•
Launched in March 2013
Located at MIT Kendall Square
500 start up at the CIC
Life-Sciences and ICT
Canadian Pavilion with open office
space for 12 desks
• 3 months – continuous or flexible
• Close to 20 participants already

31. To receive Boston CTA calls for applications:
https://adobeformscentral.com/?f=dOFAES2DLFTK4Aouy7DYHA

32. Mindful Scientific is a diagnostic and management solutions company
for concussion – Product is Halifax Consciousness Scanner (HCS)
•CEO Ying Tam Joined the CTA@Boston in April 2013 with first group
•Obtained first considerable local and international
exposure/credibility by winning entrepreneurial competitions: TIE
Challenge; IBM Global Entrepreneur Program; Harvard Extention; Retis
YEI Prize (France)
•Received cash, in-kind benefits and press coverage
•Is in active due diligence with key Boston angel groups
•Is in active discussion with professional soccer and football team in NE
and Europe

33. What is CTA CleanTech
NYC & Silicon Valley
Targeted to high-potential clean technology early and growth stage companies in Canada:
Technology: energy, water, air quality data analysis, and/or management; advanced materials; cleaner transportation,
industrial process optimization, employee/customer engagement.
Minimum viable product, scalability, and strong management in place
Technology offer that is in line with NYC and/or California market needs
Can benefit from strategic relationships with F500 companies and distribution through global value chains
2 cohorts a year, 10 companies/CEOs per cohort
Selected participants receive:
3-month virtual program via webinars, one-on-one mentoring program, and demo day in NYC and Silicon Valley over 3
days
Access to key resources in NYC & Silicon Valley including domain experts, investors, potential customers, F500 and
strategics
Upon graduation, an opportunity to take on a 4-8 month residency at NYC ACRE to raise capital or close deals with
customers identified during the virtual program
Alumni Network: Awesense, CarbonCure Technologies, eCamion, Effenco, Etalim, EnerMotion, Greengage Mobile,
Odotech, Quadrogen, REGEN Energy
Current Cohort: Circuit Meter, dPoint, Entropex, Fenix Energy, Materium, N-Dimension, Perfect Lithium, Solegear, Ywire
Technologies
Recruitment for Cohort #3 (January-February 2014) will be launched in early March 2014.
Follow us on Twitter for call for applications: @cleantechCTA.
For more info: http://www.can-am.gc.ca/new-york/offices-bureaux/cleantech.aspx?lang=eng

34. •
CTA@Philadelphia Specializes In Health IT
– focused on patient-centered solutions utilizing Health Information
Technology, mobile devices & telemedicine to improve clinical
processes, patient compliance & improve health & wellness
Value Proposition
– based at the University City Science Center largest & oldest Science
Park in the US
– close to the US financial center in New York & its regulatory center in
Washington, DC
– a convenient launch pad in the heart of the Northeast Corridor.
– economic powerhouse in health sciences including pharmaceuticals,
biotechnology, life sciences R&D, medical devices, healthcare
services & supporting industries
– Philadelphia trains 1 in 4 US physicians in world-renowned teaching
hospitals, & is home to some of the nation’s top-ranked universities
& a strong local research infrastructure

35. • Program Duration
–
–
3 month program twice a year (May and September)
6 start-up companies in each cycle. 12 companies in total per year.
• Spring 2013 Class
–
–
–
–
–
Caristix transforms data flow & interoperability for hospitals
Hospitalis improves clinical processes throughout the care continuum
Infonaut offers real-time clinical information hospital infection prevention & control
Memotext evidence-based personalization of patient compliance interventions
Pulseinfo Frame database-driven informatics for disease management & clinical
workflow improvement
– Sensory tech telemedicine solutions for in-home hospice care services
• Success Story
–
Inaugural spring class has generated 16 proposals estimated value = US$8m
–
Sales forecast for 2013 = US$3m
–
First sale was by Infonaut to Kaleida Health System (5 hospitals) for US$1.08m

36. The Canadian Technology Accelerator
250 companies to date!
•Greater exposure to partners and networks of contacts to help
companies grow well into the future
•Establishing a presence in the market while acquiring new
customers/clients
•Ability to raise “smart” venture funding
•Immersion into a culture of “open innovation” and entrepreneurial
inspiration
•Refining business model and objectives
•Receiving dedicated services from the mission’s experienced trade
commissioners
•Accessing world-class mentors and advisors
•Join networking events hosted by the Canadian missions
On TCS website:
http://www.tradecommissioner.gc.ca/eng/document.jsp?
did=141338&cid=0091&oid=28

37. CTA Contacts
San Francisco/Silicon Valley:
•John.Zimmerman@international.gc.ca
•Dina.Santos@international.gc.ca
•Michael.Wozniak@international.gc.ca (Tech)
•Matt.Pasiuk@international.gc.ca (Life-Sciences)
•Daniel.Matross@international.gc.ca (Cleantech)
Boston:
•Thierry.Weissenburger@international.gc.ca
•Christine.Sarkisian@international.gc.ca (Life-Sciences)
•Christine.Carr@international.gc.ca (Tech)
New York/Philadelphia:
•Allison.Young@international.gc.ca
•Miriam.Bekkouche@international.gc.ca (Tech)
•Regine.Clement@international.gc.ca (Cleantech)
•Vincent.Finn@international.gc.ca (Health IT)