Saskatchewan has plunked down more pennies to protect its preeminence in agricultural biotechnology.
And the province’s economic development minister Dwain Lingenfelter hopes the province can reproduce its success in agricultural biotech in other areas.
“What this fund will do is allow us to be much more spontaneous in developing infrastructure that will keep us on the leading edge,” Lingenfelter said while detailing a $6 million fund for “economic infrastructure.”
Economic infrastructure is not precisely defined, but Lingenfelter said it is important that projects paid for out of the fund be seen as benefiting more than just one company.
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He said industry as a whole must benefit from the facilities the fund supports.
The precise nature of projects to be funded by the Strategic Initiatives Fund was not explained. Lingenfelter seemed to suggest one possibility would be joint-use facilities, where many businesses could develop their products.
Lingenfelter said his fogginess about the nature of the $6 million fund is part of the nature of high technology industries.
“Some of the things we won’t even know about yet because it changes so quickly,” he said. “We want the fund here so we can be quick to activate needs on a very short period of time.”
In addition to agricultural biotechnology, Lingenfelter said other areas, such as uranium mining in Saskatoon and information technology in Regina, will also be targeted. A press release also pointed to tourism, cultural industries and value-added agriculture as sectors targeted by the fund.
The $6 million is a one-time only grant, but Lingenfelter said success will give him more clout when he asks the finance department for more money in coming years.
