‘A powerhouse’: Innovation Saskatchewan unveils new research strategy

WATCH: Innovation Saskatchewan is undergoing some changes that are only updating street signage but are looking to position the province as a global leader.

Innovation Saskatchewan is charting a new path towards economic prosperity in Saskatchewan.

“We’re going to show that great ideas grow here in Saskatchewan and will for decades to come,” Warren Kaeding, the minister responsible for Innovation Saskatchewan, said Thursday.

The crown corporation tasked with fueling innovators and supporting Saskatchewan’s tech sector and research community released a new research strategy and brand update it hopes will position the province as a global leader in research and innovation for years to come.

The plan focuses on four key sectors and three pillars to make it happen.

Life sciences, mining and critical minerals, energy and agriculture are the stated priorities as the strategy looks to invent, commercialize and connect to see Saskatchewan be home to the next scientific or technological breakthrough.

Parts of the strategy will also bring improvements to two crucial tools prospective researchers and startups will look to access.

The Innovation Science Fund will get an annual increase of $2.4 million, which nearly doubles its funding to $5.2 million.

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The Saskatchewan Technology Startup Incentive (STSI), a highly competitive tech-targeted tax credit which provides a non-refundable 45 per cent tax credit, will now include life sciences startups.

Steven Siciliano is the CEO and co-founder of homegrown startup LiORA, which manufactures “AI-driven” soil and groundwater sensor to monitor and manage soil conditions.

He says anything to improve conditions for startups, who often face a bleak outlook, is critical.

“As a startup founder, I want more [venture capitalists] competing to invest in our company,” he said. “Ninety-five per cent of startups won’t make their next funding, typically.”

Siciliano says not only creating an environment where venture capitalists want to invest is crucial, but also getting Innovation Saskatchewan leading a strategy to be a point of contact for startups looking to navigate the business model will help the next potential LiORA from failing.

“Startups exist in a unique business space where they invest in hard problems... and that requires an enormous amount of capital before cashflow comes in,” he said. “It is absolutely essential.”

Siciliano says the typical startup founder isn’t what you’re picturing, and without the necessary systems in place, they might not realize their dream.

“Those accelerators and incubators allow people of all ages to dream because the best founders are not a17-year-old whiz kid. What they are is they’re in their 40s to 50s,” he said.

Another part of Thursday’s announcement was bringing all facets of Innovation Saskatchewan under one line of branding.

Innovation Place is no more. Its name has been replaced with Innovation Saskatchewan Research and Technology Park Saskatoon and Innovation Saskatchewan Research and Technology Park Regina.

“This change and this new brand really provides that cohesiveness that we can now take out and provide a really strong signal to the world that we are an innovation powerhouse,” CEO Kari Harvey said.

Kaeding wasn’t shy about what these organizational changes could mean for the economy of Saskatchewan, and the ideas that could benefit the world.

“It is my belief that Saskatchewan’s research strategy will help cultivate these ideas so they become the next lifesaving vaccine, the next sustainable energy solution, or the next climate resistant problem that is going to transform our province and make the world that much better,” Kaeding said.