The challenge

When small, medium-sized and large companies, academic institutions and not-for-profit organizations come together to generate bold ideas, Canadians benefit from more well-paying jobs, groundbreaking research and a world-leading innovation economy that creates global market leaders.

That's why the Government of Canada challenged Canadian businesses of all sizes to collaborate with other innovation actors, including post-secondary and research institutions, to propose bold and ambitious strategies that would transform regional innovation ecosystems and develop job-creating superclusters of innovation, like Silicon Valley.

The investment of up to $950 million, which will be matched dollar for dollar by the private sector, is expected to create more than 50,000 jobs over ten years and grow Canada's GDP.