“We are committed to supporting the clean technology sector and have made it one of our three focus areas under our $3.2 billion Ontario Innovation Agenda. Ontario cleantech companies are driving market demand in Canada and internationally, while improving the environment and providing good paying jobs for Ontario families.”

“Governments have a continuing role to play in strengthening Ontario cleantech companies and building domestic markets. Strong domestic support is vital to attracting the capital needed to finance commercialization and compete in the global market.”

“By establishing the Green Schools Pilot Initiative and the Green Focus on Innovation and Technology (Green FIT) strategy, the Government of Ontario has adopted one of the recommendations from the 2009 OCETA SDTC Cleantech Growth & Go-to-Market Report to increase domestic demand. Clean technology solutions can significantly reduce the environmental footprint and lower the capital and operating costs of government operations, thereby saving taxpayers’ money while helping to build globally competitive Ontario-based clean technology companies.”

“In Canada, we have a history of selling our natural resources - our wood, water, oil and gas – as commodities rather than as value added products. We have now taken that business model to technology, and are selling our best technology, as ‘commodity’ innovations, before we derive the economic benefit from them. At OMERS, we believe that there is an opportunity to raise our game in Canada by improving how we commercialize our inventions. We believe this should be done by creating a clear link between investment, intellectual property, and markets. This Report sets out the path for company managers, investors and government officials to work together to build the Canada cleantech 20 by 2020.”

“The Report confirms the need for investment by BDC in the clean technology industry and makes practical recommendations on how we can make stronger companies by investing in commercialization and by ensuring that there is a level playing field for small technology companies to participate in government procurement processes.”

“The Report points to the opportunity to extend access to flow through share capital from resource exploration companies to innovation and technology companies. This proposal addresses a fundamental issue facing the industry, which is access to capital for commercialization.”

“Similar to the IT sector 15 to 20 years ago, the cleantech industry is undergoing incredible change and rapid growth. This kind of research is a fundamental first step toward establishing benchmarks against which we can measure future growth of the industry. As a financial institution with substantial expertise in this industry, we welcome the opportunity to support the growth of clean tech companies and the benefits they provide to the Canadian economy.”