Government providing over $600,000 for project
Ontario is helping a local manufacturer to make more personal protective equipment (PPE) available in the province.
The government is investing more than $615,000 provided through the Ontario Together Fund to help fund BIOSA Technologies’ total investment of over $1.23 million.
The company will use the funding for the development, manufacturing and distribution of non-woven filtration material for N95 and N99 mask production and other PPE products. This will help the company scale up production of an antiviral and anti-bacterial textile material for use in PPE products.
“Through the Ontario Together Fund, our government is making targeted investments in domestic businesses with the ideas and solutions to help us through this pandemic and put us on the road to economic recovery,” said Vic Fedeli, minister of economic development, job creation and trade.
“BIOSA and their new capacity to scale up production of an advanced material for use in masks and other PPE products is another example of Ontario innovation at its very best. Ontario manufacturers continue to enhance our resilience to respond to any challenge while strengthening our economy.”
Ontario has invested $50 million in the renewed Ontario Together Fund in 2021–22. The renewed fund is focused on supporting homegrown manufacturing and innovation to combat COVID-19 and provide other goods critical to the health, safety and security of Ontarians beyond this pandemic. It is doing so under the following strategic pillars:
- strengthening Ontario’s domestic manufacturing capacity
- supporting homegrown technologies and innovative solutions
- strengthening Ontario’s MedTech ecosystem
“We’re thrilled to receive OTF funding – we’ve been working hard to bring advanced manufacturing processes to Ontario and this investment has allowed us to build out our capabilities and bring much-needed materials to Canada’s local supply chain,” said Dr. Nicholas Ledra, CEO of BIOSA.
“We strongly believe in Canadians’ health and safety and preserving our environment, so our focus will always be on replacing harmful or wasteful products with eco-friendly, efficient solutions. Through this investment, we can have an even greater impact through our advanced PPE material, as well as pursue novel applications of it for HVAC filtration in schools and hospitals. We’re excited to see where the technology can go.”
Businesses and organizations looking to apply for the extended Ontario Together Fund can now do so here.
Ontario’s Action Plan: Protecting People’s Health and Our Economy brings total investments to $16.3 billion to protect people’s health and $23.3 billion to protect our economy. Ontario’s COVID-19 action plan support now totals $51 billion.
In May 2021, 60.6 per cent of businesses in Canada reported that they needed, or expected to need, PPE to operate in accordance with COVID-19-related public health guidelines, according to Statistics Canada (StatCan). This is down from 66.1 per cent in February.
