Ten Canadian startups, small or medium-sized businesses will be selected by the Canadian Digital Media Network (CDMN) to attend the Brasil-Canada 3.0 Conference in Joao Pessoa Brazil from December 4 – 6.
Brazil recently surpassing China as the seventh largest domestic IT industry in the world, and it’s hosting to the World Cup & 2016 Summer Olympics. The CDMN thinks that the opportunity for Canadian companies to connect with the Brazil market couldn’t be greater.
“Brazil has the seventh largest domestic IT industry in the world” said the CDMN’s Kevin Tuer. “And as host to the upcoming 2016 World Cup and Summer Olympics, it represents an enormous opportunity for Canadian companies looking to expand globally.”
The ten companies selected will also get to spend a day in Sao Paolo where they will compete in a pitch-off competition. They’ll be selected by a three person panel including Ricardo Sodré, CEO of Project A, Sid Paquette, Director of OMERS Ventures and Tuer.
All expenses will be paid for the entire trip. Applications will be accepted until Friday, October 25
According to the CDMN, it represents an “excellent opportunity for companies looking to expand into the fast-growing Brazilian IT market,” and meet investors, potential partners and Brazilian peers.
I found out about the CDMN a little over a year ago and since then I’ve been a fan of what Tuer and the rest of the organization is trying to accomplish in Canada. Recognizing that for many startups, access to global markets is critical, the federally-funded “Centre of Excellence in Commercialization and Research” is dedicated to establishing Canada as a world leader in digital media. The CDMN’s network includes 25 regional “commercialization hubs” across Canada, 3,352 startups and SMEs, 2,960 companies in the ICT industry and 166 academic institutes.
It claims to have created $10.31 for every dollar of public funding in 2012, 967 companies, 6122 jobs and more than $1 billion in overall wealth.
