Limited Spaces Available for Summerside’s Leading Business Acceleration Program
Summerside Xchange programs are customized to the companies’ needs to determine the market viability of the new product or service. They often focus on customer engagement, technical due diligence, product trial, securing investors and product launch/company establishment, to name a few common focus areas.
Highly innovative environment:
Summerside is a small but innovative city with a significant level of open enabling infrastructure in which companies thrive. It is ideal for testing and development of scalable and exportable technology.
Speed of business:
Access to key decision-makers with quick turnaround times is a key feature of the program. Get to yes/no decisions quickly – at the speed of business.
“First Customer” opportunity:
Where appropriate, the City of Summerside will work with firms to use budget displacement or third-party seed funding to support being the all important “first customer” opportunity providing customer reference and product validation for future sales.
Significant knowledge base:
Summerside has a valuable database of case studies on the green economy, technology and collaboration of enterprises).
Stakeholder network:
A vast network of like-minded partners, professionals and industry experts across a significant number of industries such as, but not limited to, manufacturing, food and energy.
Low-risk experimentation:
Risk is directly lowered for companies by allowing them to tap into Summerside’s existing infrastructure using rapid development cycles to increase the speed and decrease the risk associated with innovation and new product development
Commitment:
Summerside is in for the long-term and believes in two-way success.
Lifestyle:
Summerside is a community offering a high quality of life and affordable cost of living for employees. The city also shines a focus on sustainability and net-zero, which is a bonus for those trying to mitigate their personal carbon footprint.
The Xchange has assembled a world-renowned team of subject matter experts to support, extol and support enterprises in their growth journey.
Our First International Client
Looking to be one of our clients?
The Distinct Advantages of Summerside Xchange
Highly innovative environment:
Summerside is a small but innovative city with a significant level of open enabling infrastructure in which companies thrive. It is ideal for testing and development of scalable and exportable technology.
Speed of business:
Access to key decision-makers with quick turnaround times is a key feature of the program. Get to yes/no decisions quickly – at the speed of business.
“First Customer” opportunity:
Where appropriate, the City of Summerside will work with firms to use budget displacement or third-party seed funding to support being the all important “first customer” opportunity providing customer reference and product validation for future sales.
Significant knowledge base:
Summerside has a valuable database of case studies on the green economy, technology and collaboration of enterprises).
Stakeholder network:
A vast network of like-minded partners, professionals and industry experts across a significant number of industries such as, but not limited to, manufacturing, food and energy.
Low-risk experimentation:
Risk is directly lowered for companies by allowing them to tap into Summerside’s existing infrastructure using rapid development cycles to increase the speed and decrease the risk associated with innovation and new product development
Commitment:
Summerside is in for the long-term and believes in two-way success.
Lifestyle:
Summerside is a community offering a high quality of life and affordable cost of living for employees. The city also shines a focus on sustainability and net-zero, which is a bonus for those trying to mitigate their personal carbon footprint.
Vision
The Xchange aims to establish Summerside as a global leader in testing, validating and growing products and services for next-generation communities by utilizing the City of Summerside infrastructure, knowledge base and partners in the commercialization of innovation. (optional) The Summerside Xchange also seeks to partner with like-minded organizations and commercialization partners in the support of startup and existing companies seeking to develop innovative products or services.Our Inaugural Year of 2021, proved to be highly engaging proving there is a large demand for this type of Accelerator
The Summerside Xchange officially launched in the spring of 2021 with purpose and while much of the effort was spent establishing our brand and market awareness, the activities clearly focussed on deal flow and client engagement. The board met a total of nine times since its formal inception and executed some of the following milestones in 2021:
1. Execution of an international Pitch and Bridge Competition that engaged over 25 clients
2. Formal relationship with ten pipeline companies
3. Introduced 4 companies to Canadian investors
4. Enrollment of 2 Xchange clients under agreement
5. Partner collaboration activities to create relationships with global innovation and research organizations
6. Award-winning website
2021 was an exciting year for the Xchange from its formation to client execution agreements. Planning is well underway for 2022 and with new services and supports to facilitate investment opportunities for our clients.
A World Recognized Board of Innovators
The Xchange has assembled a world-renowned team of subject matter experts to support, extol and support enterprises in their growth journey.
MIKE THUSUSKA EC.D.
Michael Thususka is a certified Economic Development Practitioner and is Director of Economic Development for the City of Summerside, Prince Edward Island, Canada. Mike has been working in the field of Economic Development for the past 26 years, 20 of which have been with the City of Summerside. Mike currently sits on the National Economic Developers Association Board of Directors and is Past President of the Association.
RON SEGE
Ron Sege is an Operating Partner at BGV. Ron has more than 37 years of operating experience with disruptive offerings in the Enterprise IT market, in established public companies and venturebacked start-ups. He has extensive cross-border management experience, managing operations in China, UK, Continental Europe and Israel. Ron also specializes in go-to-market strategy and tactics, having started his career in Field Operations at ROLM Corporation and 3Com.
DAVID MAASZ
David is a retired internet/digital serial entrepreneur, turned angel investor with a global health, food and tech portfolio. David has 25 years of experience building companies and management teams from scratch and taking them to international success, and 15 years as an investor in early-stage ventures, helping them to enter global markets, raise capital and grow. As the founder of Entrepreneurship Foundation Hungary, David is the creative mind behind the Hungarian government's INPUT Program, which is recognized by the United Nations as a ‘Global Best Practice Program’ for fostering the innovation ecosystem.
MARY ALCANTARA
Mary Alcantara is a startup champion and staunch supporter of cross-border innovation. She is a founding partner of tandem LEAP, a business management company with offices in Budapest and New York City. A key player in the Hungarian start-up ecosystem, she has consulted and mentored for many of Budapest's leading incubation and accelerator programs and is a founding member of the Hungarian Business Angel Network. Mary is currently serving as Accelerator-in-Residence at INPUT, a Hungarian government program that supports start-ups with international market expansion.
JEFFERY CORMIER
Jeff is a lawyer with Key Murray Law in Prince Edward Island. Jeff is regularly sought out for his expertise on legal innovation, and he’s never too busy to work through problems and construct creative solutions. For many clients, Jeff is the first stop for all legal matters, providing unfiltered strategic advice on business matters of all kinds. In all matters, Jeff’s emphasis is squarely on the ongoing success of his client’s business. His approach is always to find the right answer to the business problem at hand.
JASON ASPIN
Jason Aspin co-founded Aspin Kemp & Associates (AKA) in 1996. Since graduating in marine engineering from the Canadian Coast Guard College in 1987, he has specialized in power engineering and systems integration and built over 30 years of progressive experience in systems engineering in the Industrial, Marine, and Offshore environments. As an innovator, he dedicates his time to designing solutions which are both socially and environmentally responsible with a focus on improving reliability for mission critical systems while reducing the carbon emmisions associated with operations.
Our First International Client
Polish-based WindTAK sp. provides individualized solutions in wind engineering, focusing on problems related to the operation of wind turbines and the improvement of their energy efficiency. The nature of the wind, local environmental conditions and varying energy prices combined with the characteristics of the turbine require an original approach. The precise analysis allows the best use of both wind resources and turbine potential — the two most important factors generating profits for the owners of a wind park.
WindTAK sp. although still in the development stages has experience and competence in the design, prototyping of innovative solutions and operation of wind turbines as well as in advanced turbine research including wind tunnels and open field tests. They have experience in cooperation with the industry, conducting innovative energy projects in conjunction with leading research and development institutes and universities in Europe and Northern America.
WindTAK sp. has recently worked with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) — Enterprise Forum Central and Eastern Europe and have been selected as one of only five startups to attend a specialized Bootcamp at the prestigious MIT in Boston in the spring of 2022.
WindTAK sp. although still in the development stages has experience and competence in the design, prototyping of innovative solutions and operation of wind turbines as well as in advanced turbine research including wind tunnels and open field tests. They have experience in cooperation with the industry, conducting innovative energy projects in conjunction with leading research and development institutes and universities in Europe and Northern America.
WindTAK sp. has recently worked with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) — Enterprise Forum Central and Eastern Europe and have been selected as one of only five startups to attend a specialized Bootcamp at the prestigious MIT in Boston in the spring of 2022.