Lead to Win Blog

Ottawa, Monday, September 14, 2009.

Peter Carbone, Chair of the Board of Coral CEA announced that the National Research Council Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC-IRAP) has provided a financial contribution to further Coral CEA?s ecosystem model of commercialization.

The announcement was made at the reception for Lead to Win companies organized by the Ottawa Chamber of Commerce at the Algonquin College campus. In attendance were 66 founders of 49 technology startup companies that anchor Phase III of the Lead to Win program, representatives of 50 Ottawa companies that are members of the Ottawa Chamber of Commerce, academics and members of the ecosystem that is driving massive innovation in Canada?s Capital Region.

Coral CEA?s commercialization model involves qualifying and developing emerging businesses, providing them with commercialization support and technology building blocks to differentiate their offers in the marketplace. It also brings customers and investors to the table and provides the opportunity for investment in lead projects to fill gaps in the commercialization process. Coral CEA is focussing its technology building blocks on Communication Enabled Applications, the next generation of ICT. These can be used by member companies to significantly enhance their commercial offers into health, finance, education, or virtually any business vertical.

Coral CEA has a unique commercialization model with potential for massive innovation and creation of knowledge jobs. NRC-IRAP?s financial support to Coral CEA will help accelerate its implementation and investment in qualified companies that graduate from the Lead to Win program. NRC-IRAP?s collaboration with Coral CEA is expected to help create more new companies.
?We have a common goal with NRC-IRAP, said Peter Carbone, ?We wish to drive massive innovation and commercialization in Canada. We are delighted that NRC-IRAP has decided to collaborate with us and help us to help build profitable companies in Canada. Their investment at this early stage allows us to ramp capability more quickly.?

Momentum is building, and Coral CEA is expanding beyond National Capital region to provide other communities with the same leverage companies in Ottawa have acquired. The team has been demonstrating some of the sandbox applications to companies in Canada and the US, which is resulting in even more partners and assets for companies to leverage being added to the ecosystem. To harness this momentum, Coral CEA is planning to host a code competition in which companies can use building blocks from Coral CEA?s sandbox to build new CEAs.

?Coral CEA and Lead to Win are providing significant support to small and medium size companies already,? says Tony Bailetti, Director of the Talent First Network. ?Ten of the 49 companies in Phase III of the Lead to Win program have raised 3/4 of a million dollars in the last two months from private investors and government programs such as NRC-IRAP. The Coral CEA sandbox provides these companies with the ability to further differentiate their offers and compete more effectively in the global marketplace.?

Stay tuned for more information on the competition and some more positive announcements at www.coralcea.ca

For more information:
www.coralcea.ca

Peter Carbone
[email protected]

Tony Bailetti
[email protected]

Coral CEA is a business ecosystem designed to assist companies of all sizes with the commercialization of what is considered the next generation of information and communications technology: communications-enabled applications (CEA). These applications marry the network capabilities and intelligence found in today?s networks with the rich world of IT applications to create entirely new user experiences. The company implements the keystone of a business ecosystem, which provides; ?out-of the box? technology, enhanced partnering processes and brokers deal flow to the advantage of its members. The Coral CEA ecosystem is anchored around a non-profit organization with five founding members, (IBM, Nortel, Carleton University, Eclipse Foundation and The IT Association of Canada).

NRC-IRAP works with small- and medium-sized Canadian firms, providing expertise and advice as well as potential funding in developing their innovative ideas. Financial assistance for this project is a direct result of the Government of Canada?s Economic Action Plan outlined in Budget 2009.