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Government Programs & Industry Opportunities

Government Programs & Industry Opportunities
12 Apr 2018 by DigiBC

DigiBC is always working with our federal, provincial and municipal government partners to help implement programs that will benefit the industry, and below is a list of some of the recent opportunities we received from our contacts. DigiBC’s Executive Director, Brenda Bailey, is participating in a federal trade mission to China this month to establish and enhance business contacts in the region. Stay tuned for an update and recap on this in next month’s newsletter. In the meantime, here is the list of federal programs provided to us by Yaa-Hemaa from Global Affairs Canada, as well as some industry opportunities from Alana Wagner at the US Trade and Investment office of British Columbia which arose in her discussions at GDC 2018.
 

Federal Programs (for companies in game development)

  1. CanExport provides 50% reimbursement on eligible expenses for market development initiatives costing $20k to just under $200k, for companies with 2 to 250 employees, $200k to $50m in annual revenue, and entering into a market where they haven't had a sale in the last 24 months. Travel, accommodation, meals, translation of website, consulting and marketing materials are among eligible expenses. Recommend reviewing FAQs, and you can find a list of the eligible and ineligible activities here. There’s currently a 5-week turnaround from application to decision for CanExport applications.
     

  2. Canadian Digital Media Network: Soft-Landing Program provides support for any travel for business development or investment meetings you may have outside of Canada. CDMN’s Soft Landing program provides up to $4k in travel and accommodation to successful applicants, and the current call is for travel between March and June of this year. Deadline to apply is Feb 11th.

 

Federal Programs (for companies outside of game development)

  1. Going Global Innovation (GGI) is a funding program meant to facilitate the formalization of a contractual agreement between a Canadian and a foreign organization to engage in joint R&D that could lead to commercialized Canadian technology. With a confirmation letter from a potential foreign partner in their interest in exploring an R&D initiative with your company, you can apply for GGI to cover up to 75% of eligible expenses (up to a total of $75k), for expenses such as travel and accommodation, reasonable hospitality, registration fees, translation and interpretation costs, among others. You can request an application package from innovation@international.gc.ca. Applications need to be submitted at least eight weeks prior to your intended travel.
     
  2. Canadian Technology Accelerators is an initiative that helps Canadian companies with an existing technology, product or service explore opportunities in foreign markets.
     
  3. Build in Canada Innovation Program provides an opportunity for the Government of Canada its departments to procure a Canadian company's technology and test it within the federal government.

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List of opportunities from our US Trade and Investment Director, Alana Wagner. Please contact her directly (
awagner@britishcolumbia.ca) if you are interested and would like an e-intro made.

 

  1. Zynga: Is your game a fit for Zynga? They are actively looking for games in a genre adjacent to their own games but are also open to other options. The main concern is that the game be social.
     

  2. Maingames: SE Asia publisher that focuses on mid to hardcore games. If you are interested in publishing your game in SE Asia (Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Philippines, Thailand, Australia) this publisher would like to talk to you.
     

  3. Disruptor Beam: This Boston-area company builds story-rich mobile games that connect players around popular franchises including Game of Thrones, Star Trek, and The Walking Dead. They are interested in partnerships/co-development/work-for-hire deals with mobile or mobile F2P companies on their new or existing products.
     

  4. Nickelodeon: Are you interested in making games with Nickelodeon? They are open to pitches for their content (both current and older content, as well as cross property) in a unique brand appropriate way that is good for kids and families. This could be a co-development/work for hire/licensing opportunity.