SME
Opportunity
Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the backbone of Canada’s food and beverage processing sector, with about 94% of all Canadian facilities having fewer than 99 employees.
Many of these smaller companies, especially those with 5 to 50 employees, face barriers to innovation due to limited in-house expertise or a lack of available capital. If we can unpuzzle these problems, Canada can achieve substantial economic value creation gains. Guiding SME businesses to explore and adopt new technologies is the key to unlocking large-scale and transformative growth across the entire sector. CFIN is here to help and we have ideas about how to offer targeted funding, expert advice, and fractional innovation services tailored to SME needs. We know that with the right support, every size of Canadian food and beverage business can embrace innovation and boost productivity, positioning Canada’s food sector to lead globally and build lasting resilience.
CFIN’s non-dilutive funding programs will continue to de-risk innovation and help SME’s thrive. In addition to our high impact Innovation Booster and Food Innovation Challenge funding programs, with additional support we’ll launch a new fund called the Technology Adoption Accelerant that will help SME’s to implement Canadian made solutions that will make their businesses more productive. Learn more on the Innovation Programs tab.
SME Success Stories
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Southeastern Grocers Pilots Ice Manufacturing in 1st Autonomous Micro-Factory
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Big Mountain Foods is working with Maia Farms to integreate Maia's ingredients into meatballs and burger patties
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Toronto Zoo rolls out robotic food delivery for animals
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Recipe Unlimited partners with Gastronomous to test automation of the flame grill at select Harvey’s restaurants across Ontario