Climate disasters are on the rise, and as these events rise in both frequency and severity, the fight against climate change is also becoming more and more urgent. Canada has a wealth of passionate, inspiring cleantech innovators who are working hard to develop, deploy, and scale technologies and solutions that will help Canada and the world eliminate emissions, waste, and achieve a net zero economy.
However, many innovators in Canada struggle to secure capital, attract customers or industry partners, and deploy their solutions on the open market, which is where accelerators like Foresight come in. Through mentorship, education, industry and investor connections, and networking events, our programs have supported more than 1,000 Canadian cleantech ventures, which have generated more than $439 million in revenue, created nearly 8,000 jobs, and have raised more than $1.4 billion dollars in funding.
On this episode of Cleantech Forward, Foresight CEO and host Jeanette Jackson is joined by Foresight Canada’s Senior Director of Market Transformation and the Senior Director of Cleantech with Social Innovation Canada, Barnabe Geis, and Cycle Momentum CEO Patrick Gagné.
Together, the three explore why these programs are indispensable for Canadian cleantech entrepreneurs, the driving forces behind cleantech acceleration in Canada, and what we can do to collectively accelerate cleantech adoption.
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Barnabe Geis is the Senior Director of Market Transformation with Foresight Canada. He works to develop programs and partnerships that remove barriers, leverage policy developments, and grow market opportunities to accelerate the adoption and scale up of clean technologies. He is also the Senior Director of Cleantech with Social Innovation Canada, where he works to advance the development and adoption of clean technologies through social innovation, education, research, partnerships, and ecosystem development. While with the Centre for Social Innovation, Barnabe founded, and was the Executive Director of, Climate Ventures, an organization that fast-tracked the success of early-stage entrepreneurs, innovators, and leaders developing and implementing solutions to the climate crisis.
Patrick Gagné is the CEO of Cycle Momentum, and a Board Member at Startup Montréal, as well as Zone Agtech. Patrick brings 25 years of experience in entrepreneurship and technology to his position as CEO, and has a thorough understanding of what businesses need in order to succeed. He has held positions with the Laval Smart Mobility Incubator and Accelerator, Startup Genome, and the InnoCité Montreal accelerator. Cycle Momentum offers entrepreneurs a specialized and personalized program of training workshops, networking sessions, and experienced mentors to help them develop and commercialize clean technologies and build globally competitive companies.
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