The Waterloo Accelerator Centre and City of Waterloo Announce Canada’s Technology for Food Collaboration

Groundbreaking initiative bringing together industry, academia and government to foster innovation and sustainability in food and beverage processing in Ontario

World-renowned for its cultivation of technology entrepreneurship and commercialization, Waterloo’s Accelerator Centre announced today it has partnered with the City of Waterloo to launch Canada’s first innovation program focused on the food and beverage processing industry. Canada’s Technology for Food (CTFF), spearheaded by the Waterloo Economic Development Committee (WEDC) and its vice-chair Ted McKechnie, will bring industry and academic partners together with Waterloo’s business community to foster innovation and accelerate the commercialization of technologies aimed at advancing Canada’s food and beverage processing industry at home and abroad. CTFF will focus on innovation, retraining, and building a highly skilled workforce to bridge the labour gap.

“Waterloo Region enjoys a long history in food and beverage production, stretching back to the 1800’s, and today, South-western Ontario remains the largest food manufacturing region in Canada and third largest in North America,” said Tim Anderson, CAO, City of Waterloo. “We need to continue to innovate, to inject new ideas and technologies into the industry to maintain our position as a world leader. We have been actively seeking an opportunity to support the advancement of this industry for some time. Canada’s Technology for Food is the solution we’ve been seeking; it can be a catalyst for real change in the food and beverage processing industry here in Waterloo, across Ontario and Canada, and in time, globally.”

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