Roch J. Ripley
Partner
Head of Vancouver Intellectual Property Department; Patent Agent
Article
Recent news focused on Canada's economy has largely centred on inflation and rising interest rates, which is unsettling to say the least. While much of the Government of Canada's attention is directed at resolving (what will hopefully only be short-term) economic uncertainty, government officials also remain committed to investing in the future, including cleantech.
In this regard, the 2022 Canadian Federal Budget allocated $28.2 billion to a variety of cleantech endeavours. The figure represents a sizeable increase over the 2021 Federal Budget, and is a promising step towards meeting Canada's 2050 net-zero targets. The Budget provides funding for several key cleantech areas, such as modular nuclear reactors, which can provide clean energy to Canada's remote communities; extraction of minerals critical to the development of electric vehicles and other clean technologies; and several initiatives focused on hydrogen-based technologies.
Other key cleantech funding initiatives outlined by the Budget are as follows:
Even with significant government investment, it remains incumbent on Canadian private enterprise to develop and commercialize cleantech. Doing this requires Canadian businesses to implement an intellectual property (IP) strategy that will enable them to successfully compete on national and international stages. We discussed high-level strategic IP concerns and various funding sources available for scaling Canadian businesses in an earlier article, which can be found here. In particular, Canadian businesses should consider the following when developing an IP strategy:
Apart from the 2022 Federal Budget, government funding for scaling Canadian cleantech businesses, such as through NRC IRAP, may be available for IP strategy development. Please contact a Gowling WLG professional for more information.
The corresponding page numbers and highlights from this section can be found on the PDF version of Budget 2022.
Page number 42
Greener buildings and homes
Establishing a greener neighbourhood pilot program
Greener construction in housing and buildings
Page number 60
Launching a world-leading Canada Growth Fund
"Budget 2022 proposes to establish the Canada Growth Fund to attract substantial private sector investment to help meet important national economic policy goals:
Page number 82
Page number 91
New measures to help reduce greenhouse gases:
Page number 92
National network of eclectic vehicle charging stations:
Helping business switch to medium and heavy duty zero emission vehicles
Page number 94
Page number 95
Expanding Low Carbon Economy Fund
Clean Tech in Yukon
Support for business investment in air-source heat pumps
Page number 96
Building capacity to support green procurement
Industrial Energy Management
Page number 97
Investment Tax Credit for Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage ("CCUS")
Page number 98
Clean electricity
Page number 99
Small modular reactors
Page number 100
Taking more action to eliminate plastic waste
Page number 104
Building Canada's net-zero economy
Page number 105
Increasing the Impact of the Canada Infrastructure Bank ("CIB")
"Budget 2022 announces a broadened role for the CIB to invest in private sector-led infrastructure projects that will accelerate Canada's transition to a low-carbon economy. This will allow the CIB to invest in small modular reactors; clean fuel production; hydrogen production, transportation and distribution; and carbon capture, utilization and storage. These new areas fall under the CIB's existing clean power and green infrastructure investment areas. The CIB will continue to invest in its public transit, broadband, and trade and transportation investment areas."
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