The government of Ontario announced Thursday that they are increasing funding for on-campus entrepreneurship programs at the province’s post-secondary institutions.
The announcement, made by Minister of Research and Innovation Reza Moridi, took place at Communitech in Kitchener. Communitech has consistently been recognized as one of the top startup incubators in the world, and is recognized as the Regional Innovation Centre for the Waterloo region by the Ontario government.
The Ontario government, through its youth jobs strategy, will create two entrepreneurship programs with the goal of fostering on-campus entrepreneurial growth at Southwestern Ontario’s universities and colleges. The programs, dubbed Campus-Linked Accelerators and On-Campus Entrepreneurship Activities, will invest over $25 million in the next two years to build on innovation and entrepreneurial programs at colleges and universities and support existing entrepreneurial activities.
The Campus-Linked Accelerator program will also create the Waterloo Region Campus Linked Accelerator, which will be a partnership between the University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University. UW will also expand it’s entrepreneurship programs, such as the Velocity Garage, as past of this program. Lauirer’s Brantford campus will also work to expand entrepreneurship programs for Aboriginal and at-risk youth.
The announcement by the government of Ontario furthers the spending that will take place to support Ontario’s youth jobs strategy. Ontario will invest over $295 million over the next two years in programs that aim to connect young people with tools and experiences that will help them find employment.