This is a program that works at the pre-commercialization phase. This is not a program to help a company access those kinds of funds. It is to take a company, when you divide the development of the technology or development of innovation, to kind of the final stages of that development.
Really, one of the reasons we changed the name of the program is that this commercialization piece is not what the program does. It is a pre-commercialization piece.
The program is there to take an innovation, an invention that is now functioning, and see whether it is suitable for testing within government. The reason we have that request from small and medium enterprises that do this kind of work is that a government buy, as your first buy, is the best tool to get you to venture capital commercialization and investment by interested investors, as well as sales abroad.
For many of these companies, they're interested in developing an export market. This is where they really want to push their innovations, some of which, of course, are things that can be delivered in Canada. Many are looking for export markets.
For example, we have one company back east that was working on a sensor for detecting oil droplets in water. Based on the work they did with, I believe, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, and the testing they did and the successful use of the technology—they adjusted the technology based on those tests—they were able to develop a market in the oil business in the Gulf of Mexico to help with the detection of oil in the environment. Their business has increased. They're actually out there now, delivering.
So what we're doing is providing a place, a venue, where you can actually sell your first product, test it, maybe improve on it, and make it more available. That sale helps you in terms of marketing your innovation abroad.