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Minister Chagger announces Government of Canada investment in Innovative Saskatchewan Software CompanySolido Design Automation of Saskatoon receives $1.8 million for technology commercialization SASKATOON, SK, May 12, 2017 /CNW/ - Western Economic Diversification Canada The Government of Canada is providing $1.8 million through the Western Innovation (WINN) Initiative for Solido Design Automation Inc. to expand and accelerate the development and commercialization of their machine learning-based software products used to make electronic chips. The Honourable Bardish Chagger, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister of Small Business and Tourism, made the announcement today during a visit to Solido's new state-of-the-art software headquarters in Saskatoon's Innovation Place technology park. She made the announcement on behalf of the Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development and Minister responsible for Western Economic Diversification Canada. Machine learning is a branch of artificial intelligence. Solido's machine learning-based software, used to design chips in electronic devices, will improve chip performance, energy efficiency, size and yield in production. Customers who use this technology to build devices such as smartphones and tablets will increase productivity while also reducing costs and time required to bring new products to market. Quotes - The Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development and Minister responsible for Western Economic Diversification Canada "The Government of Canada is proud to support innovative western Canadian small- and medium-sized businesses, like Solido Design Automation Inc. Investments like this help these companies to invest in innovation and expand to the international marketplace. We are proud to stand behind Solido as they revolutionize electronic chip design worldwide." - The Honourable Bardish Chagger, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister of Small Business and Tourism "Canada has tremendous opportunity to advance within the high-growth machine learning and artificial intelligence areas. We are impressed with the proactive investment the Canadian Government is making to help Canada become a world leader in this important echnology sector. The funds will allow Solido to more rapidly expand our machine learning research and development hiring to support our customers around the world, who make chips for the next generation of electronic devices including smartphones, tablets, laptops, computer servers, cars and internet-of-things devices." - Amit Gupta, President and CEO, Solido Design Automation Inc. Additional Links Follow us on Twitter: @WD_Canada, @MinofSBT WD Homepage IF THERE IS A DISCREPANCY BETWEEN ANY PRINTED VERSION AND THE ELECTRONIC VERSION OF THIS NEWS RELEASE, THE ELECTRONIC VERSION WILL PREVAIL. Backgrounder Investing in Innovative Software Development and Commercialization May 12, 2017 – Saskatoon, Saskatchewan – Western Economic Diversification Canada The Government of Canada is making smart investments that will create jobs, grow our economy, and provide more opportunities for the middle class and those working hard to join it. A $1.8 million investment for Solido Design Automation Inc. (Solido) to develop and commercialize their machine learning-based software products helps place Canada as a world-leading innovation economy. Funding provided through Western Economic Diversification Canada's (WD) Western Innovation (WINN) Initiative is a co-investment with Solido to help meet the needs of a growing electronics market. Solido develops innovative software to automate the design of electronic chips used in devices such as smartphones, tablets, laptops, TVs, computers and automobiles. Their customers include IBM, Broadcom, Nvidia, Cypress, Microsemi, Applied Micro and more, who supply chips used in the billions of electronic devices sold each year. New software will save significant time and money for chip design, and substantially increase productivity, chip yield and performance. This product has the potential to be 100 times faster and more accurate than existing methods of chip design, using innovative machine learning algorithms, a branch of artificial intelligence. Advantages for software customers will translate into improved products available to the public. Solido has recently moved their Saskatoon headquarters into a 13,000 square foot, state-of-the-art software facility in the Innovation Place technology park, which provides a creative, collaborative environment for Solido's team of engineers, computer scientists and mathematicians. Solido's success in the software market will lead them to grow to 105 employees in 2017, doubling their technology teams. The project funded under WINN is expected to create 15 highly qualified software engineering positions in Saskatoon, and will invest overall $3.6 million in research and development of the targeted software product. In recent months, Solido has been recognized as one of the Deloitte 2016 Technology Fast 50, as the number one fastest growing technology company in Saskatchewan and 34th in Canada. They have achieved ranking as a top five product for the fifth consecutive year by attendees of the electronic design industry's largest annual conference. President and CEO Amit Gupta was also named as a finalist for the 2016 EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award, Technology and Communications category, Prairies Region. WINN aims to bridge the gap identified in pre-commercialization funding for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), assisting them in the process of bringing their ideas to market-ready products, processes, and services. Announced in October 2013, WINN will invest $100 million over 5 years in the form of repayable contributions to for-profit SMEs based in Western Canada. With federal support, all projects aim to be on the market within 3 years. Additional Links Follow us on Twitter: @WD_Canada, @MinofSBT SOURCE Western Economic Diversification Canada 
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