And the winners are …

The federal government has announced the five areas which will receive part of an up to $950 million fund aimed at creating innovation clusters across the country, and Brampton and Mississauga will be getting a piece of the pie.

Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development and MP for Mississauga-Malton, made the announcement on Feb. 15.

Companies in Mississauga and Brampton, as well as the City of Brampton and Brampton Board of Trade, were part of the Toronto-Waterloo Corridor Advanced Manufacturing Supercluster Bid.

The successful bid, led by Guelph-based auto parts manufacturer Linamar, also included companies, municipalities and post-secondary institutions from across the GTA. The area was awarded the roughly $230 million Advanced Manufacturing Supercluster.

New Generation Manufacturing (NGM) Canada, a new organization made up of a network of private and public-sector organizations, will lead the initiative.

“Using a hub and spoke model, our strategy aims to ensure manufacturers and technology firms have access to all of the resources they need to be successful,” said Myers NGM Canada CEO, Jayson Myers.

“The Advanced Manufacturing Supercluster ecosystem will provide a network of support and services to accelerate technology adoption in manufacturing firms and generate new customers and scaleup opportunities for technology firms,” he added.

The ultimate goal of the five superclusters is to establish technology and research hubs across the country similar to Silicon Valley in California.

“I am excited that the Advanced Manufacturing Supercluster bid received funding under the Innovation Superclusters Initiative as this will have a real and long standing (sic) impact on Brampton and its future role within the Innovation Corridor. This is great news for our economy, for Canadian innovation and for our local community,” said Ruby Sahota, MP for Brampton North in a release.