Thank you very much. Through the chair, Mr. Baldinelli, yes, I can give you examples from each of our innovation centres.
From the Walker Advanced Manufacturing Innovation Centre, we are leading a nine-institution network called the Southern Ontario Network for Advanced Manufacturing Innovation. It's funded through FedDev Ontario, the regional development agency for southern Ontario. It is tackling a whole bunch of problems. It can go from auto safety to better ways of drilling holes. It runs the gamut. It has McMaster University involved and seven colleges, including Niagara College.
One way of relating this to the committee's question today is that when COVID struck in March 2020, we the members of SONAMI went to our funders and said, “Hey, could we pivot our funding to look at COVID-19-related projects?” FedDev was very gracious in saying, “Yes, please do; we need the help. There's a problem with PPE, personal protective equipment; there's a problem with fluids for cleaning. Any old problem that you could help with would be great.”
For the first six or eight months of the pandemic, we conducted 32 projects that are COVID-related. They were manufacturing and designing face shields. They were using our distilleries to make cleaning fluid. They were designing and building better laryngoscopes in order to intubate people more safely. There were apps for phones to facilitate physical distancing during delivery. All the companies with which we worked were able to step up into the breach during the early part of SONAMI. That's one way in which we help, in a very local way but that can have far-reaching implications.
We worked with manufacturing companies. We doubled the production of a machine shop in Niagara that used to do mostly car parts but is now pivoting to do horticultural products, handling machinery. Your little alfalfa sprout that you grow has to be processed, cut, cleaned, dried and bagged, and this company now produces machinery that does this. It sells worldwide. Within a few months of having finished their SONAMI project with us, they were doubling their machining space and doubling their staff, and they were selling millions of dollars' worth around the world. That's one example.
In another example, we've helped companies make new beverages. There's a company called DistillX that makes zero per cent alcohol gin, and we designed the product with them. We're currently working on a tequila with them, too. Now their product is on the market, and in December, if you were watching Dragon's Den, you would have seen them on that show pitching their “zero gin” product. They got offers from each and every dragon, so they are currently commercializing this product with the help of investors and being very successful and are still working with us on their second product.
Those are two or three examples. I can give more, but I don't want to take the whole time.