Finance committee  Thank you. I don't think it's necessarily a question of a new fund; it could be more money for the existing fund or under a new instrument that's created. But you're absolutely correct that the purpose is pre-commercial demonstration of--

Finance committee  Right.

Finance committee  What SDTC does is the pre-commercial demonstrations of technology. So they're in real world conditions with a potential customer. When we talk about young, what we're talking about is newly formed organizations and businesses.

Finance committee  It's not an age issue. It's a young organization per se that is starting to build into the market.

Finance committee  Merci, monsieur Laforest. I don't know in terms of all the rules of the committee...but SDTC was created as an arm's-length foundation of the government. We operate in a hybrid fashion, working like a private sector organization helping to deliver the government's policy.

Finance committee  As you said, we've had a number of years where the SD Tech Fund has been investing in clean technology projects. Typically they take seven years to get to market, so we're just starting to see some of those projects coming out of our pipe. When you look at some of the indicator

Finance committee  We give them a grant. We don't take equity or a return on the money.

Finance committee  Merci, monsieur le président. My name is Sailesh Thaker, and I'm the vice-president for industry relations at Sustainable Development Technology Canada, or SDTC. I would like to thank the members of the Committee for the opportunity to take part in these consultations. I would