On Thursday, Saskatoon native and Minister of Natural Resources Jonathan Wilkinson announced $750 million in extra funding over the next six years, to be shared between the five superclusters.
“To be a leader in tomorrow’s economy, we need to make smart decisions today and this support for Canadian innovation that I’ve announced today does just that,” said Wilkinson.
Established in 2018, Canada’s five superclusters are groups of non-profits, schools and companies to help boost growth in their respective industries.
Federal contributions are matched by industry.
In Saskatchewan, the main focus is on creating protein from plants.
“This support will help build on the successes that we have seen. They will help us to expand on the national presence of each of the superclusters, spur collaboration between the clusters, and support government priorities such as climate change and supply chains,” said Wilkinson.
Protein Industries Canada (PIC) looks to make the country one of the top global sources of plant-based products.
Since Saskatchewan is an agricultural leader with pulses and cereal grains, Bill Greuel, CEO of PIC said the impact of this amount of funding is significant.
“Thanks to this government’s vision and investment, the innovation clusters have already been able to care more than 11,000 jobs and see 70,000 people trained to take advantage of these opportunities,” said Greuel.
PIC already has 45 projects, valued at more than $480 million, underway across the country.
They added an evaluation of their work shows it could create 15,000 jobs across the country within 10 years, and add $9 billion to Canada’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Overall, the five clusters have a goal of creating 50 thousand jobs and generating $50 billion in GSP by 2028.
“Through more than 1,800 projects, the clusters have spurred growth of globally competitive ecosystems in industries that are now and will continue to be economic drivers for our country,” said Greuel.
Adding, it looks like the superclusters are going to surpass the goals they have set for jobs and economic growth.
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