Four Local Businesses Share Million Dollar Funding

Provincial funding is flowing to small business and innovation in the North Bay area to the tune of 1.2 million dollars.

The Heritage Fund money is supporting four projects.

The bulk of the money, 740-thousand goes to Next Hydrogen to develop equipment to produce and commercialize low-cost clean hydrogen, fostering a greener environment.

Metric Aid receives over 223-thousand dollars and Managing Director for Metric Aid Les Blackwell says the money will be used to hire more software developers and create a more automated scheduler for physicians.

This will lead to reduced wait times and improved patient flow in hospitals.

Meantime, Nordic Minesteel Technologies is receiving 160-thousand dollars to design and patent two new systems technologies for the mining sector, resulting in improved workplace efficiencies and employee safety.

And finally, RotaCan is getting 120-thousand to redesign and improve the bearing systems in the company’s rotary drill bits to extend the life of the bits and gain a competitive edge in the marketplace.

Sudbury MPP Glenn Thibeault says this is not just great news for North Bay, but for Ontario. He says this funding will create more jobs that will drive the Northern Economy.

He also says this will show other corporations that they won’t have to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on leases in the bigger cities, to get a great place to work.