Ignite Canada

Important results from the project

Sweden arranged for the second year in a row Sweden Canada Innovation Days in Montreal. As part of the innovation cooperation between Canada - Sweden, they also want to offer Swedish SME the opportunity to participate, with the aim of finding potential partners for collaborative innovation projects and posibillity for future export to Canada. That is why Ignite Sweden arranged a matchmaking during the days, where the accompanying SME had to meet Canadian big companies, SME and relevant organizations to lay the groundwork for new collaborations.

Expected long term effects

The project involved 10 relevant Swedish startups within AI, Forestry and Mining in the project (from Kiruna to Malmö). Another three startups participated in the matchmaking remotely. The project invited 10 Canadian startups to meet Swedish big companies. Results of the meetings due to the Corona pandemic is not yet 100% to judge. Project that was planned to start has been put on ice, so also for example scheduled visits. However, some new collaborations have begun. Matchmaking with Canadian clusters was appreciated by Swedish startups.

Approach and implementation

Participating startups really appreciated the opportunity to go, the days of implementation and their meetings. It gave them an opportunity to discover and explore Canada as a market, which many of them testify to never having done unless this trip made it possible. One lesson is that you need good organizations in place, who have good knowledge of, and relevant contacts with business in the host country to further create opportunities for start-up companies. Initially, this project was missing, which made it very challenging to get to qualitative meetings.