REGINA — The list of Saskatchewan post-secondary schools that are partnering with the Agtech Accelerator is growing.
The University of Saskatchewan, the University of Regina and Saskatchewan Polytech are all working to advance agriculture technology in the province.
The Regina-based Agtech Accelerator is a venture-capital-backed accelerator to help early-stage start-ups that are developing technological innovations for agriculture.
Cultivator (powered by Conexus Credit Union), Economic Development Regina (EDR) and Emmertech (a new agtech focused $60 million venture capital fund) launched the Agtech Accelerator earlier this year.
Innovation Saskatchewan is also a founding partner with a $300,000 commitment over three years.
Agtech Accelerator intends to provide tech start-up companies access to capital, programming and mentorship to help them grow, scale, hire and sell.
It will also create high-quality job opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students in Saskatchewan said Alix Hayden, associate director, research excellence and innovation at the U of S.
“Agriculture, innovation and ag tech is a big theme for USask and it’s a good time where we also start to look more at what is required in terms of innovation in that space. We know well that small companies, start-ups, new ventures have the ability to be agile and to develop innovation in a disruptive way that large organizations can’t,” she said.
“We’re very happy to support this Agtech Accelerator project from the perspective that we have research and expertise and students at the university who will really benefit from exposure to the kind of innovation that the companies in the accelerator will be bringing.”
The program will also provide researchers and students exposure to innovative companies and entrepreneurship.
“A lot of our students in colleges, like the College of Agriculture, may not be thinking about ag tech, technology start-up companies as a career choice, or actually starting a company as a career choice.”
“So, this is a terrific opportunity in our own backyard for them to become exposed to that and maybe get bitten by the bug and do some economic growth right in the province,” she said.
“Post-secondary institutions are a key component to any innovative ecosystem,” said Jordan McFarlen, business incubator manager with Cultivator powered by Conexus.
“Each bring a unique level of expertise and opportunity to the partnership. They bring some really exciting things around their expertise, programming, faculty, facilities and network. In return what’s really exciting is the opportunity that we can provide to students and faculty, the institution, and to their operations and innovation agendas as well,” he said.
The partnerships between the educational institutions and the Agtech Accelerator is based on a three-year agreement, but each arrangement is different.
“All three post-secondaries are providing a mixture of monetary contributions, in-kind expertise and facility access to help establish a global agtech hub and their connection to that.”
“There’s a lot of wins across the board. We really wanted to make sure that we’re building a Canada-wide program with a real global focus right here in Saskatchewan, and that we have these extremely strong post-secondary institutions along for the journey,” he said.
“Having some of Canada’s top academic institutions directly connected with some of Canada’s top high-growth agtech companies is a recipe for success.”
