By Khalida Sarwari
While the national pastime of Canada is played down at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, this month a different group of Canadians is moving into town – green tech companies that are looking to expand in Silicon Valley.
The Consulate General of Canada in San Francisco-Silicon Valley will select the companies as part of a Canadian Clean Technology Accelerator program. For the next four months, the companies will have access to their own office space as well as resources and contacts to grow on an international scale at the Environmental Business Cluster.
Located in downtown San Jose, the Environmental Business Cluster is the country’s first clean tech incubator and provides commercialization support and office space to clean energy and environmental tech companies in Silicon Valley and beyond.
The program is supported by the Canadian Trade Commissioner Service, a network of international business professionals that helps Canadian companies to succeed abroad.
The partnership allows Canadian companies to bring their clean tech innovation to Silicon Valley and collaborate with Silicon Valley firms and venture capitalists.
“I think there’s plenty of opportunity for us to grow together,” said Councilman Ash Kalra at a program launching ceremony this afternoon at the Environmental Business Cluster. “This is just the beginning.”
Among the speakers at today’s ceremony were San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed, Joe Oliver, Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources, Cassie Doyle, Consul General of Canada, and Council members Kansen Chu, Xavier Campos, Rose Herrera, Dan Rocha, and Nancy Pyle.
Doyle said that San Jose is the third Bay Area city where the program is operating and that the new location would give Canadian clean tech companies access to customers and partners in California and other global markets.
Oliver said the partnership would benefit Canada as well as San Jose, because among the similarities they share is a commitment to reducing their carbon footprints.
“This is a microcosm of what we’re trying to achieve on an environmental front,” Oliver said.
