If you follow the mainstream Canadian media, you may have noticed a developing story around Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC). SDTC is a non-profit organization that provides Federal funds to the Canadian clean technology sector through grant and seed funding programs. The programs and the organization were around for almost two decades.
An audit of the organization recently conducted by the Federal government revealed multiple cases of conflict of interest between the organization’s executives and the approved application. Another alarming discovery was that many applicants were not in line “with the spirit” of the contribution agreement.
The funding for the organization is currently stopped as well as its application process. Further investigation and corrective action implementation will take at least 6 months. During this time, there will be no dedicated source of government funding for Canadian clean technology firms. The flow of funds from the program also stopped.
This is a very bad situation considering the sector’s impact on future jobs, prosperity and climate change.
Here are the links to learn more about the story.
- https://www.theglobeandmail.
com/business/commentary/ article-sdtc-funding-canada- cleantech-companies/ - https://www.cbc.ca/news/
politics/sustainable- development-technologies- canada-champagne-1.6985847