Ontario Clean Technology Industry Association

7 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 9, ISSUE 3 Creation and Trade, Vic Fedeli, was in attendance; for him, it was a great opportunity to look at the topic from the perspective of different stakeholders, as to their challenges and how Ontario can move forward on that front, I think. We were also involved in the working group for the Ontario Hydrogen Strategy and hosted an event on the hydrogen economy in September. Ontario’s Minister of the Environment and Parks, Minister Piccini, gave the keynote, which was very inspiring. From April 4-8 we will be hosting OCTIA’s Cleantech Week at the Park engaging Ontario’s policy makers and political leaders, as well as the province’s cleantech leaders. So there is an ongoing dialogue.” BVM: Do you have any other upcoming initiatives to share? Althaus: “Another very exciting project is a program we are administering for NRC-IRAP (National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program). The objective of the so called Hydrogen Connect Program is to provide funding for cleantech companies in the hydrogen space so they can retain services that help them accelerate their businesses. We have just extended this program to encompass a wider variety of cleantech companies and a bigger funding envelope. It’s a really cool project with tangible benefits.” BVM: Looking ahead, what goals would OCTIA like to achieve? Althaus: “With the global market being valued at several trillion dollars, cleantech is our future. The sector is an asset for our country and our province which will help build a resilient, prosperous economy and create well-paying jobs. At OCTIA we need to make sure that cleantech is recognized as being that tremendous asset”