Who We Are

Our Mission

Our mission here at Summerside Xchange is to anchor, support, and foster early-to-mid-stage companies through a combination of physical and program support. All types of support are designed to exponentially grow the entrepreneurial, immigration, and start-up climate here in Summerside.

connect with us
Leveraging Infrastructure for Clean Growth

Summerside utilizes its municipally owned infrastructure to drive cleantech growth. The city’s fibre optic network supports projects like Heat for Less Now, which enhances energy efficiency using electric thermal systems and smart grid technology. Through Xchange, start-ups gain unique opportunities for product testing and market validation, particularly for international companies entering North America. Pioneering projects like the Industrial-Scale Solar Energy Storage System and AI Smart Grid pilot demonstrate Summerside's cleantech leadership.

Supporting Innovation and Growth

Summerside has cultivated an entrepreneurial ecosystem that blends historic charm with a progressive economic strategy. The Summerside Business Commons, a 14-acre Eco-Park with construction-ready lots and sustainable infrastructure, exemplifies the city’s commitment to fostering innovation and sustainability. This dynamic environment is designed to help clean businesses thrive by providing the resources and support needed for productivity and innovation.

A Vision for Our Sustainable Future

Aspiring to be Canada’s first Net Zero City, Summerside places cleantech at the core of its economic development. The city is progressing towards meeting its energy needs entirely with renewable sources and building infrastructure for green hydrogen production. By aligning with the provincial 2040 Net Zero Framework, Summerside is positioning itself as a key player in the cleantech industry, fostering collaboration to attract and grow businesses within the sector.

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.

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 NEWS AND EVENTS
Taking the Pulse on Business

Summerside is home to a diverse range of businesses, from global brands to innovative start-ups, all flourishing thanks to the city’s unique blend of resources, support, and strategic vision. By investing here, you become part of a thriving community of forward-thinking enterprises driving the future of innovation and growth.  

Read The Full Story
Summerside: Sectors Driving Growth—3

Summerside's manufacturing sector, with its rich legacy in food production, continues to be a vital pillar of the local economy. The sector's successful expansion into advanced industries—such as aerospace, food processing, and clean technology—demonstrates its adaptability and commitment to innovation. 

Read The Full Story
Summerside: Sectors Driving Growth—2

Summerside’s economy thrives on innovation, sustainability, and diversification, making it a strategic hub for emerging industries. Whether you're in traditional manufacturing, aerospace, IT, or renewable energy, the city has developed a business ecosystem that encourages growth across sectors. By offering a blend of advanced infrastructure and cutting-edge technology initiatives, Summerside continues to attract and retain investment.

Read The Full Story
Summerside: Sectors Driving Growth—1

Summerside’s economy is built on innovation, sustainability, and a commitment to diversification, positioning the city as a leader in several emerging sectors. From traditional industries to aerospace, information technology, and renewable energy, Summerside consistently showcases its strong value proposition for attracting investment and fostering business expansion. 

Read The Full Story
SUMMERSIDE SUCCESS START-UP STORIES
Where Innovation
Meets Opportunity
BluWave-ai 
“If you can set a high enough bar and fail high, it’s still achieved a lot, so, but don’t set the bar at four.”
Devashish Paul, FOUNDER OF BLUWAVE-AI
Founded in 2017 and headquartered in Ottawa, BluWave-ai expanded in 2019 with a Smart Grid AI Center of Excellence in Summerside, PEI, leveraging local talent and innovation to fuel its growth.

The company launched its first real-time AI energy dispatch system for Summerside Electric in 2019, followed by Tata Power in Mumbai, India, in 2020. These milestones, achieved through expertise developed in Summerside, marked the global expansion of its AI models.

Starting with just two staff members, BluWave-ai has grown steadily, diversifying into utilities and EV charge management. Today, it serves customers across Japan, India, Dubai, Europe, and North America—all driven by innovation rooted in PEI.
Affordable Heating and Cooling for Your Home or Small Business
stash energy
“Summerside’s Living Lab Program has allowed us to accelerate our Research and Development phase, enabled us to get to market quicker and facilitated validation for us to raise crucial capital as we ramp up production. Having access to expertise and critical infrastructure in Summerside enabled us to build market credibility and test, refine and develop our products in an accelerated and market accepted fashion.” Jordan Kennie, Chief Executive Officer Stash Energy
Electric Utility companies around the globe understand the core problem with managing demand: electricity demand fluctuates throughout the day, with peaks in usage in the morning and early evening. To manage these fluctuations, utilities need to run more generating stations, which significantly increases operating costs, requires more investment in new infrastructure and increases C02 emissions. Summerside's Electric Utility, which has the same level of sophistication as utilities across the globe, faces these challenges on a daily basis and finds ways to innovate and further the adoption and adaptation of PEI's grid system as its core strategic focus.
 
Enter Stash Energy and a partnership with The City of Summerside and their Living Lab Program, which became the genesis of their newfound market acceptance.

Fast-forward to Spring 2018 and with solid test results and mentoring from the City, Stash has reached another milestone: an envisioned outcome of the lab program with another round of equity investment from Island Capital Partners of $250,000 and an additional $250,000 from New Brunswick Innovation Foundation (NBIF) to further full-scale production of their Stash M1 Comfort System.
WindTAK—
Compressing years
of learning-by-doing
into just a few months
"Prince Edward Island is unique and the perfect location to develop new ideas and gain a foothold in the North American market. For an enterprise like ours, it simplifies everything and turbo-boosts the time required to test and take our products to market. We are now in the process of setting up an office in Summerside." 
Maciej Karczewski CEO, WindTAK
 
Start-ups and existing companies working on new products enter accelerator environments for a fixed period of intense, rapid and immersive learning aimed at speeding up the product development cycle of their companies by up to 3X, compressing the time needed to introduce new products and services with “learning-by-doing” in-field market research and/or pilot customers.

The unique Summerside Xchange program is based on real-life test and experimentation environments in which start-ups, existing companies, researchers and developers work directly with the community and its infrastructure to advance product testing, development and integration in the real world.

One such company that is taking the next step in commercializing its product for the North American wind turbine market is WindTAK. How can wind farm operators and equipment manufacturers scale up in time to help meet the challenge of net zero carbon targets? A collaboration between a Polish engineering design company and the City of Summerside offers a highly innovative solution that could extend the life of existing turbines and make current and future turbines up to 15% more effective.
By using this web site you accept our use of cookies.   Accept