Resources

Initiative funded by Canada that intended to foster economic growth and reduce poverty in APEC developing economies by building the potential of MSMEs and aspiring entrepreneurs. The initiative has 2 components: C$2M APEC MSME Sub-Fund and C$2.49M for research and training project under the coordination of Asia Pacific Foundation. Asia Pacific Foundation collaborates with APEC in the following areas: (i) Sharing best practices, (ii) Finding common points on project collaboration, (iii) Highlighting new ideas to explore and expand, (iv) Identifying common interests and build on them, (vi) Extending and complimenting other projects with common goals.

Canada provided an update on the project “Supply movement framework and tools: Phase IV monitoring” which focused on strengthening aboriginal and rural women’s participation in trading networks. Completion of phase four of this project was expected by Oct 2010.

The Build in Canada Innovation Program was made permanent in 2012 with four objectives: Help bridge the “Pre‐Commercial Gap”; Enable real‐world feedback and evaluations; Provide a ‘reference sale’ for Canadian businesses; and Improve Government operations. Through a competitive process, the government buys innovative pre‐commercial goods and services and tests them in government departments.  The BCIP is administered by the nation‐wide network of Offices of Small and Medium Enterprises (OSME).