Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF)

Quantum information processing is slowly becoming a reality, ushering in a new technological era.

Quantum Computing

<div>
 
 Xanadu is a Canadian end-to-end provider of quantum solutions and is the world&rsquo;s first quantum computing company to prove the viability of the photonic approach. Quantum computers built using this approach can operate at room temperature and are easier to scale as they use existing fiber-optic-based telecommunication infrastructure. The company achieved 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/10839">
 quantum computational advantage
 </a>
 in June 2022 when it unveiled a new photonic quantum computer, &ldquo;Borealis,&rdquo; with 216 squeezed-state qubits. Borealis is publicly available on the cloud.
 
 
 The company provides cloud access to its quantum processors consisting of 8, 12, and 24 qubits (yet to launch) configurations. It expects to double the number of qubits available in the cloud every six months. It also operates cloud-based platforms for its software products &mdash;PennyLane (for quantum machine learning) and Strawberry Fields (for photonic algorithms). Xanadu says that its in-house team of dedicated scientists is globally recognized in quantum machine learning.
 
 
 The company has received two grants (amounts undisclosed) from the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The first was in November 2019 to undertake a comprehensive investigation of the performance of quantum machine-learning algorithms on available quantum computing hardware, and then in July 2021 to develop a novel general-purpose &quot;circuit-cutting&quot; compiler for near-term quantum computers.&nbsp;
 
 
 
 
 
 Key customers and partnerships
 
 
 Xanadu partnered with various organizations, which included&nbsp;
 
 
 1) 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/27477">
 Riverlane and Rolls-Royce
 </a>
 (March 2024) to leverage quantum computing for modeling airflow in jet engines
 
 
 2) 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/13866">
 Volkswagen
 </a>
 (October 2022) to develop materials for electric vehicle (EV) batteries
 
 
 3) 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/8250">
 Multiverse Computing
 </a>
 (February 2022) and 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/6585">
 Agnostiq
 </a>
 (November 2021) to build quantum finance solutions
 
 
 4) 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/8956">
 GlobalFoundries
 </a>
 (March 2022) and 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/4980">
 IMEC
 </a>
 (August 2021) for photonic chip fabrication&nbsp;
 
 
 5) Quantum Algorithms Institute (March 2022) to build a quantum-ready workforce
 
 
 6) 
 <a href="https://www.xanadu.ai/press/menten-ai-partners-with-xanadu-to-develop-quantum-machine-learning-for-protein-based-drug-discovery">
 Menten AI
 </a>
 (January 2022), a quantum biotech company, to design novel drug molecules
 
 
 
 
 
 Funding and financials
 
 
 In February 2024, Xanadu secured 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/26936">
 repayable funding
 </a>
 of CAD 3.75 million (USD 2.78 million) from the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario) via the Regional Quantum Initiative (RQI). The proceeds were earmarked to accelerate the development of Xanadu&rsquo;s open-source software framework PennyLane. 
 
</div>

Moving industry forward with next-gen advancements in energy storage and transmission

Alternative Energy

General Fusion aims to develop utility-scale fusion power using Magnetized Target Fusion (MTF) technology. In December 2022, the company demonstrated plasma energy confinement times, plasma temperatures, and compression system performance that support its goal of meeting 100 million degrees Celsius in its MTF demonstration.&nbsp;In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/22691">August 2023</a>, General Fusion announced a new MTF machine known as “Lawson Machine 26” (LM26). The company intends to use the machine to achieve fusion conditions of over 100 million degrees Celcius (180 million degrees Fahrenheit) by 2025, and progress toward scientific breakeven by 2026. The LM26 is designed to validate the company’s ability to symmetrically compress magnetized plasmas in a repeatable manner and achieve fusion conditions at scale. It integrates the company's existing operational plasma injector with a new lithium liner compression system.Construction of General Fusion’s demonstration at the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority’s (UKAEA) Culham Campus began in 2023 and is expected to be commissioned in 2026 and fully operational by early 2027.Key customers and partnershipsIn June 2021, General Fusion partnered with the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) to build and operate a fusion demonstration plant (FDP) at UKAEA’s Culham Campus in Oxfordshire, UK. In July 2021, General Fusion partnered with Canadian Nuclear Laboratories, a nuclear technology laboratory managed by the Canadian National Energy Alliance, to develop tritium extraction technologies for fusion power.&nbsp;In February 2022, General Fusion, Bruce Power, and the Nuclear Innovation Institute partnered to accelerate the delivery of clean fusion power in Canada. In November 2022, the company partnered with Canadian Nuclear Laboratories again to carry out a series of joint projects to accelerate the deployment of commercial fusion power in Canada.In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/22653">October 2023,</a> General Fusion partnered with Kyoto Fusioneering to advance critical systems for MTF commercialization, including the tritium fuel cycle, the liquid metal balance of the plant, and the power conversion cycle. During the same <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/23302">month</a>, General Fusion expanded its partnership with TRIUMF to design diagnostics that will advance the former’s technology and prove the performance of its MTF demonstration, LM26. In December 2023, the company partnered with the University of Lisbon to develop a key diagnostic for MTF technology.Funding and financials&nbsp;In March 2024, General Fusion and TRIUMF, Canada’s particle accelerator centre, received a USD 800,000 Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Alliance grant. The companies intended to use the funds to advance technology to develop an ultra-fast neutron spectrometer system to measure plasma temperatures at fusion conditions of over 100 million degrees Celsius.In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/24966">December 2023</a>, General Fusion received CAD 5 million (~USD 3.7 million) from the Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF). The company planned to invest the funds in the research and development of the company’s MTF demonstration, LM26. The company’s latest funding round was in August 2023, when it raised USD 25 million in the first close of its Series F funding round. Participants of the round included existing investors, BDC Capital, and GIC, as well as new grant funding from the government of British Columbia.In November 2021, the company raised USD 130 million led by Temasek. Previously, in January 2021, General Fusion raised an undisclosed amount from Thistledown Capital, a venture capital firm established by Shopify founder Tobias Lütke.

AI, robotics, and IoT to streamline the flow of goods and information

Logistics Tech

<div>
 
 Canada-based Attabotics offers a proprietary storage and retrieval system that utilizes three-dimensional, goods-to-person bots, powered by robotics, machine learning, and AI. Attabotics&rsquo; robotic shuttles are designed to move three dimensionally inside a vertically designed storage structure to retrieve and store goods. Attabotics claims that its compact vertical storage structure reportedly contributes to a 85% reduction in fulfillment space. Attabotics&rsquo; solution can be applied to a range of industries including ecommerce, retail, and consumer goods and is designed to handle activities such as sequencing, sortation, and conveyance. The company also offers an order management and control solution, &ldquo;Weave,&rdquo; to manage the movement of robots.
 
 
 In September 2022, Attabotics launched the first commercialized version of its proprietary robot, &ldquo;Attabot 2022.&rdquo; Attabot 2022 offers a flexible payload, accommodating larger bins up to 16 in tall at 100 lb and offers advanced features&nbsp; such as the ability to operate in multiple temperature zones with an unlimited number of robot, structure, and workstation configurations.&nbsp;
 
 
 Key customers and partnerships
 
 
 The company&rsquo;s customers include Gordon Food Service, Calgary, US Department of Defense (DoD), Pan Pacific Pet, and Modern Beauty.&nbsp;
 
 
 In April 2021, it entered a partnership with AltaML, an applied AI and machine-learning company, and Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (Amii), an AI research and application center, to develop AI and ML capabilities that enhance efficiency and productivity of Attabotics&rsquo; solutions.&nbsp;
 
 
 The company has strategic partnerships with SYNUS Tech to provide its technology to the South Korean market&nbsp; (May 2022) and with K&ouml;rber Supply Chain Automation to sell and distribute its technology in the European market (June 2022).
 
 
 Funding and financials
 
 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/14661">
 In November 2022,
 </a>
 Attabotics raised USD 71.7 million in a Series C round led by Export Development Canada to scale its technology and enhance its commitment on implementing its technology across the market.
 
 
 
</div>

Augmenting the mining value chain with technology and automation

Mining Tech

<div>
 
 Novamera is a venture backed start-up that is developing an innovative technology/process, called Sustainable Mining by Drilling, to recover ore from steeply dipping, narrow vein deposits that are considered uneconomic when applying traditional extraction methods.
 
</div>

Revolutionizing efficiency by redefining human interactions

Humanoid Robots

An artificial general intelligence company that builds humanoids with a human-like cognitive architecture. In March 2022, Sanctuary AI raised CAD 75.5 million (approximately USD 60 million) in Series A funding.

General Fusion develops utility-scale fusion power using a new, patent-pending concept based on recent developments in Magnetized Target Fusion (MTF). MTF has been relatively unexplored by the fusion community since the 1970s, but if proven it would provide a practical near-term path to fusion energy. It is the goal of General Fusion to demonstrate and commercialize this new clean, safe, and economical concept by the end of the decade.  General Fusion is supported by a global syndicate of energy venture capital funds, industry leaders, & technology pioneers.

Medicom is one of the world’s leading manufacturers and distributors of single-use infection-preventing products serving the medical, dental, industrial, veterinary, research, and cosmetics sectors.

Pharmascience is a generic drugs company that committed to the breadth and diversity of its product portfolio, which includes prescription, over-the-counter, and generic medications as well as medical devices that adhere to the strictest international regulatory standards. Additionally, they provide a vast array of services, including manufacturing and contract research and development.

Ranovus is a provider of multi-terabit interconnect solutions for data center and communications networks. The company’s scalable and disruptive portfolio includes Quantum Dot Multi-Wavelength Laser technology and advanced digital and photonics integrated circuit technologies that are setting a new industry benchmark for the lowest power dissipation, size, and cost for the next generation of optical interconnect solutions. It specializes in the development of optoelectronics components and transceiver subsystems using quantum dot multi-wavelength laser combined with digital and photonics technologies. The company was founded in 2012 and is headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario.

Since its founding in 2016, Xanadu has focused extensively on the effects quantum will have on society and how to best service those needs.  Xanadu's ultimate goal is to provide quantum on demand to enable significant computational improvements over the best classical methods to solve really tough real-world problems. Xanadu has amalgamated leading scientists and professionals to pair academic research with industry veterans to develop a massively scalable venture.

Sanctuary Cognitive Systems Corporation (aka ''Sanctuary AI'') is a mission-driven company focused on developing human-like intelligence in general-purpose robots. The company was founded in 2018 and is headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia.

REVOLUTION Turbine Technologies (RTT) generates reliable, zero-emission electricity from excess pressure in gas production, transmission and distribution systems. We’re addressing a >$10 billion global market with an opportunity to reduce carbon footprint by >10 GT per year.

Kathairos Solutions is an Alberta-based cleantech company to combat the unprecedented challenge of a warming planet.

Kinova designs and manufactures robotics platforms and components that are simple, sexy and safe under two business units: Assistive Robotics empowers people with disabilities to push beyond their current boundaries and limitations while Service Robotics empowers people in industry to interact with their environment more efficiently and safely.

Redline Communications is a provider of advanced wireless broadband products with more than 150,000 installations in 130 countries, and an extensive global network of partners. Redline's experience and expertise helps service providers, enterprises and government organizations roll out wireless broadband networks to cost-effectively deliver high-bandwidth services, including video, voice and data communications. Redline award-winning infrastructure products include the AN-80i, RDL-2000 and RDL-3000 product line which support its continued commitment to maintaining its wireless industry leadership with the development of advanced products.

Moltex Energy is a nuclear technology leader that has caught the attention of governments, utilities and investors worldwide. With its innovative Stable Salt Reactor - Wasteburner (SSR-W), Moltex provides a carbon-free electricity generation solution that combines low upfront costs with reliable, large-scale power (300-500 MWe per reactor). This, coupled with inherently safe design features, makes the SSR-W suitable for siting in many communities. The SSR-W is a molten salt reactor that uses recycled nuclear waste as fuel. This fuel is produced using Moltex's WAste To Stable Salt (WATSS) recycling process, and offers a cost-effective, environmentally friendly, and socially acceptable solution to waste minimization. Thanks to GridReserve, energy from the SSR-W can be stored as heat and dispatched to the grid during periods of peak demand. This allows the reactor to complement intermittent renewable sources such as wind and solar. Moltex was selected by NB Power to progress development of its reactor technology in New Brunswick, Canada, with the goal of deploying first-of-a-kind SSR-W, WATSS and GridReserve units at the Point Lepreau site.

They are founded in 2012 by three entrepreneurial scientists, hoping to devise a full-proof platform for the discovery of clinically-relevant antibodies. Over the years, they have been supported by many prestigious entrepreneurship and scientific awards to create our Nebula Antibody platform and have substantiated this platform through several collaborations with various North American and European pharmaceutical partners. We have also produced over 350 commercial antibodies and submitted several patents for our technologies. In 2015, they took the bold step of initiating their own antibody pipeline, with a primary focus on cancer and gastrointestinal health. Thus far we have advanced 4 candidates to late stages of discovery.

Edesa Biotech is a clinical-stage private company focused on developing treatments for dermatological and anorectal diseases. The initial focus is on developing novel, safe and potent alternatives to steroids for Allergic Contact Dermatitis, Hemorrhoids, and Anal Fissures. Edesa Biotech’s lead asset, EB01 is a novel non-steroidal anti-inflammatory molecule for the treatment of allergic contact dermatitis which has already demonstrated statistically significant improvements in multiple clinical studies.

Attabotics provides a robotic warehousing and fulfillment system that has the potential to redefine the market. The company specializes in the fields of industrial automation, robotics, and software engineering.

VBI Vaccines is a biopharmaceutical company developing novel technologies that seek to expand vaccine protection in large underserved markets. VBI’s eVLP vaccine platform allows for the design of enveloped virus-like particle vaccines that closely mimic the target virus.  VBI is headquartered in Cambridge, MA with research facilities in Ottawa, Canada.

Novamera is a venture backed start-up that is developing an innovative technology/process, called Sustainable Mining by Drilling, to recover ore from steeply dipping, narrow vein deposits that are considered uneconomic when applying traditional extraction methods.

This project proposes to boost product development, process innovation and technology adoption in Canada's food and beverage processing sector. CFIN aims to kickstart innovation within Canada's food and beverage processing sector by connecting stakeholders through digital resources and collaborative activities, such as advanced technology platforms, industry advisors, and events focused on sector growth and market access. The Network will also improve the competitiveness and sustainability of the agri-food sector by making existing innovations and best practices available to a wider range of stakeholders in the agri-food system through the creation of a digital hub.

The project proposes to accelerate the automation and digitization of Canada’s agricultural sector. CAAIN will bring together a network of partners – spearheaded by Alberta Innovates and Vineland Research and Innovation Centre – to increase the competitiveness of our agricultural sector and reduce financial risk for Canadian farmers. The network will establish a smart farm platform to develop and validate technologies that will enable automation of agricultural tasks. Canada’s strengths in artificial intelligence (AI) and precision agriculture will be leveraged and merged to develop scalable, exportable farming solutions.

MindBridge Analytics Inc. is a venture-backed FinTech company based in Canada. Through the application of machine learning and artificial intelligence technologies, the MindBridge platform detects anomalous patterns of activities, unintentional errors, and intentional financial misstatements. Using the MindBridge AI Auditor, organizations across multiple industries can minimize financial loss,

BioVectra manufactures ingredients for global pharmaceutical and biotechnology clients offering therapeutics used in the treatment of cancer, kidney disease, cardio-vascular disease, multiple sclerosis, and many other serious diseases. With over 40 years experience, the company is proficient in synthetic organic chemistry, fermentation of chemical and biologic molecules, downstream processing, MPEG production, and conjugation chemistry. BioVectra was founded on 1970 and is based in Charlottetown, Canada.

Over the past 30 years, QNX software has become a big part of everyday life. People encounter QNX-controlled systems whenever they drive, shop, watch TV, use the Internet, or even turn on a light. Its ultra-reliable nature means QNX software is the preferred choice for life-critical systems such as air traffic control systems, surgical equipment, and nuclear power plants. And its cool multimedia features have QNX software turning up in everything from in-dash radios and infotainment systems to the latest casino gaming terminals.

North builds a technology that is human-centric and believes that people and technology go hand in hand. The company thus is building technologies discreetly built into fundamental parts of our lives that already exist. With over 400 people spanning four offices across North America, it is a crew of futurists, engineers, and designers and is always looking to add more innovators to the team.

Lakeside Plastics Limited is an industry leading Tier 1 and Tier 2 supplier of custom plastic injection molded product solutions to the automotive industry. They are the consistent recipient of performance based Customer Awards, and are frequently recognized for our exemplary service, quality and dependability.

Linamar Corporation is organized along product/process and geographic lines in order to maximize customer satisfaction, efficiency and operational results.  The company is structured into individual operating groups each led by a Group President.  Global support facilities and functional resources span across the organization to assist with technical expertise, standard operating policies and shared best practices.

Offers Canadian industrial and technology-based businesses with financial support.

Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF)

Company Brief

Portfolio

About EDGE

Contact Us

Resources

Area of Focus

Technology Research Made Effortless