The Business Development Bank of Canada(

The Business Development Bank of Canada(BDC) offers working capital for businesses that are developing and launching new products, adding ecommerce, or upgrading marketing and promotional strategies. BDC offers loans that can be repaid over an eight year period, customized repayment schedules, analyze marketing strategies, and review your financial management to maximize business profitability.

Another important resource for your business is the BC Innovation Council(BCIC) website. This organization provides networking opportunities, mentorship for technology companies, conference videos on entrepreneurship, case studies on innovative start-up companies, and resources that you’ll need to commercialize your idea.

A second important topic for innovative businesses is taking advantage of available tax breaks. You can claim up to 68% of your testing and experimenting dollars through a Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) program called Scientific Research and Experimental Development(SR&ED). You will have to track your development expenses and submit them with your annual tax return when your innovation is market-ready. For more information on this topic watch the September 10th webinar “SR&ED”. My experience with companies using this tax break come from the SMARTSTAGE company mentioned above and a video enthusiast who created Singular Software, a low-cost program to handle a number of video and audio tracks to produce videos from weddings and other memorable events. Watch the October 14th webinar on “Opportunities in Innovation” for more information on this and other innovative companies.

Thirdly, networking and learning from another’s experience is vital in developing your innovative business. The BC Inventors Society is an important centre to learn from other successful inventor’s experience developing their innovations and getting them to market. This office provides information on monthly meetings with other inventors, speakers that have successfully brought their idea to market, a website that provides notes from previous speakers, and news related to inventing.

For more information on obtaining funding for your innovative business contact: eversfield.mark@smallbusinessbc.ca