Cleantech professionals say the new P.E.I. education and business hub has potential

Key takeaways: 

• Tax-free zone, educational programs will develop interest.
• A straw-burning furnace on the Danish island of Samsø, one of the motivations for P.E.I.’s cleantech industry.

According to two charges in the field, the latest cleantech park designed for Georgetown, P.E.I., has some exciting prospects —one in Canada and the other in Denmark. 

In February, the government of P.E.I. declared that it intends to construct a $25-million park hub for business and education and have a 44,000 square-foot Clean Tech Learning and Innovation Centre and a 25-hectare business park.

Tyler Hamilton has been working in the cleantech area for 15 years. He’s presently the director of cleantech for the MaRS Discovery District in Toronto, a non-profit urban creation hub that helps startups and scale-ups, including in the cleantech sector.

“Cleantech is an inclusive term. It catches a lot of things, but generally, we think of it as anything that is a technology that eases environmental and weather effects but does so in a manner that is also very economical,” Hamilton said.

Hamilton said the cleantech sector had grown dramatically in current years. 

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“I’ve been at this for almost 15 years, and I’ve never seen so much curiosity around it,” Hamilton said.

“The amount of capital available for both the private sector and government appears like it’s the very top of mind for a lot of investors, and it’s being identified as a need if we’re going to meet net-zero targets around weather change,” Hamilton said.

“The Canadian government also notices it as an engine of financial growth in the 21st century.”

Tax-free zone

Hamilton said the recent Clean Tech Learning and Innovation Centre on P.E.I. can capitalize on that interest. 

“I think it’s a wise move. I believe that what it will do is seed next-generation firms that are coming out of research that’s happening, not only on the East Coast but from across Canada,” Hamilton said.

Source – cbc.ca