Apply now for DTAPP grant

The food sector is included among companies who have received federal government funding to encourage smaller companies (fewer than 500 employees) incorporated and operating in Canada to invest in digital technologies. Applications to the Digital Technology Adoption Pilot Program (DTAPP), delivered by the National Research Council of Canada – Industrial Research Assistance Program, close March 31, 2014.

Edmonton, Alta.-based frozen food manufacturer and co-packer Inovata Foods, which serves the retail, club store and foodservice industries in Canada and the U.S., has received $100,000 in DTAPP funding. “We found the DTAPP application process to be relatively easy; we didn’t need to use an outside consultant. It took six weeks to find out we were approved,” says Jason Yohemas, CFO, Inovata Foods.

He notes that the DTAPP grant has helped pay for up to 80 per cent of the costs of labour and services involved in Inovata Foods’ Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software project. The funding helped cover the cost of searching for an ERP partner and the service costs involved in the implementation of JustFoodERP, “a great fit for our company’s continuous improvement goals,” says Yohemas. The privately held company, founded in 1989 and still owned by the Parsons family, also owns and operates the 90,000-sq.-ft. Otter Valley Foods private-label food manufacturing facility in Tillsonburg, Ont.

Information on the DTAPP can be found at http://www.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/eng/irap/dtapp/index.html

Heather Angus-Lee, a long time business and trade journalist, now writes for IndustryBuilt. Contact her at heather.angus-lee@industrybuilt.com