Ontario — KPMG in Canada and MaRS Discovery District launched the Climate Impact Accelerator, a collaboration (they say is) designed to significantly advance Canada’s innovation agenda by bridging the gap between Corporate Canada and the country’s start-up ecosystem.
The program matches KPMG in Canada clients looking for technology-driven climate solutions to cleantech startups in the MaRS ecosystem that are ready to scale up. The program aims to quickly implement climate innovation solutions on a large scale by building stronger networks between startups, corporations, and governments.
The World Intellectual Property Organization ranked Canada 16th out of 70 countries in its 2021 Global Innovation Index in 2021, but when it comes to business sophistication and knowledge and technology outputs, Canada’s ranking falls to 20th and 23rd,, respectively.
According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Canada has the highest share of innovative firms, but its projected GDP per capita growth is only 0.7 percent from 2020-2030 and 0.8 percent from 2030-2060, placing Canada last in a ranking of 38 advanced and G20 countries.
KPMG says the Climate Impact Accelerator will seek to boost economic growth and advance commercialization in Canada’s cleantech innovation economy by combining the client base and advisory expertise of one of Canada’s largest professional services firms with MaRS, North America’s biggest innovation hub. That the collaboration has the potential to be scaled to other areas such as financial services, healthcare, environmental, social and governance (ESG) and retail.
BrainBox AI is a Montreal-based startup from the MaRS portfolio participating in the Climate Impact Accelerator. The company specializes in artificial intelligence software that optimizes HVAC Systems to make buildings more energy-efficient and greener.
“Partnering with corporations and governments through the Climate Impact Accelerator allows us to demonstrate how our game-changing AI technology can be used on a large scale to help reduce emissions. This program helps us find the right corporate partners quickly and efficiently. We are looking forward to working with governments and companies and help them cut their energy usage by enabling building owners to significantly reduce their carbon footprints,” says Sam Ramadori, Chief Executive Officer of BrainBox AI.
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