First of all, innovation seems to be the buzzword around the globe right now. I will tell you that we fully recognize that innovation does not necessarily mean invention. Inventions are innovative in themselves.
Innovation is the process of taking something, perhaps a currently existing product, and improving it: perhaps finding a new market for that product; improving the line on which that product is made; improving the quality of the product by using newer, more advanced materials or software to advance the product; and improving productivity, which, as I’ve always said, is not working harder but working smarter.
FedDev has taken on the opportunity to make funding available to businesses to do those things that will improve that. For example, training of existing employees can be done with HRSDC, but we also have opportunities to fund businesses to upskill their employees. For example, when businesses adopt new technology to improve their process, we have funding available to help them purchase new, advanced equipment to make their process faster, easier for them or, in fact, to improve the bottom line.
I could go on about those applications using federal government help—with leveraged dollars, of course, because the private companies have to have money in the game. I will say, too, that in the case of profit-making companies, we require repayable contributions. We do not give money to profit-making enterprises. We loan them funding, which has worked out to be extremely important, especially in the depths of the economic downturn when banks were a little bit harder to get along with than they usually are. These companies came to us, literally by the hundreds, and we offered them ways to do everything.
I'll give you an example. One company came to us, concerned about the Canadian dollar. Of course, the federal government cannot do anything about that particular issue. But the owner found assistance to improve the insulation in his factory. With FedDev's help, he increased the insulation in his factory and saved enormously on his heating bill. That allowed his company to remain profitable. It saved jobs, in that particular situation.
We often see companies that want to expand and capture a greater market share. They have a product. They're not in the global market but with some help, with some new piece of equipment, they can get there. FedDev will look at that very carefully and determine whether there's an opportunity to help the company grow in that way and hire more people in Ontario.
That creates improved competitiveness on a global scale, just through incremental innovation in the process of the company, indeed in the actual equipment or product they're making.