#851: !Spark Incubator Gets $400,000 For GP Entrepreneurs

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One of the latest recipients of funding from the Alberta Entrepreneur Incubator Initiative of Alberta Innovates is the Grande Prairie Community Futures program called !Spark.

Holly Sorgen is Executive Director of the Community Futures program.

As she explains, the $400,000 grant over two years will significantly boost start-up support for entrepreneurs in the Grande Prairie region.

HOLLY SORGEN:  What we’ve been seeing for the last little bit is an increase in the number of clients coming through the door who are looking at how they can take skill sets and their careers and put them into an entrepreneurial setting.  So it’s a perfect timing.  
These dollars,  provide the opportunity for the !SPARK business incubator to be more than physical space.  It allows us to do concierge services for the clients and identify what their needs are, to help them put together action plans, to provide all of the support they need to create business plans, and to do some training and stuff like that. 

Holly Sorgen says !SPARK will serve a population base of over 100,000 people and it will help diversify the local economy beyond the core industries of agriculture, forestry and energy.

Thanks today to ALBERTA INNOVATES

Learn more at InnovationAnthology.com

I’M CHERYL CROUCHER

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Alberta Innovates

Alberta Innovates is a provincially funded Corporation with a mandate to deliver 21st century solutions for the most compelling challenges facing Albertans. We do this by building on our province’s research and technology development strengths in the core sectors of health, environment, energy, food and fibre and platforms such as artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, and omics. We are working with our partners to diversify Alberta’s economy, improve our environmental performance and enhance our well-being through research and innovation. 

The Alberta Innovates system has roots stretching back almost 90 years

In March, 2016 the consolidation of Alberta Innovates was announced and on November 1, a single, integrated innovation powerhouse, Alberta Innovates, was formed. Two applied research subsidiaries – Innotech Alberta and C-Fer Technologies –  serve public and private sector interests.

The Alberta Innovates system was first created in January 2010, as part of an overall innovation framework developed within the Alberta Research and Innovation Act. At that time, four corporations were established:

  • Bio Solutions
  • Energy and Environment Solutions
  • Health Solutions
  • Technology Futures.

The Alberta Innovates system has a 90-year legacy. Our expertise is built on the successes of:

  • Alberta Institute for Agriculture
  • Forestry and the Environment
  • Alberta Agricultural Research Institute
  • Alberta Forestry Research Institute
  • Alberta Life Sciences Institute
  • Alberta Ingenuity
  • Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research
  • Alberta Research Council
  • iCORE
  • nanoAlberta
  • Alberta Water Research Institute (AWRI)
  • Alberta Energy Research Institute (AERI)
  • Alberta Oil Sands Technology and Research Authority (AOSTRA).

 

Program Date: 2017-03-07