As a Business Advisor, Roger works closely with your company to identify opportunities for development and expansion.

Roger will guide your company’s entrepreneurial endeavours and help determine the proper “game plan” for your business.

He will address areas such as:

• Competitive market analysis
• Business plan and strategic planning reviews
• Customer identification and product evaluation
• Market entry strategies
• Manufacturing operations
• Accelerated growth
• Expansion into global markets

Roger grew up and went to high school in Peterborough Ontario where he tinkered with electronics and computers.  He attended Queen’s University in Kingston graduating with an Honours degree in Electrical Engineering in 1992.  While at Queen’s, and for a brief period after, he worked at lab assisting with research into micro-seismic monitoring as it related to underground mining.

In 1993 former members of this research lab formed ESG Solutions (www.esgsolutions.com) in Kingston to provide micro-seismic monitoring equipment and services for industrial applications.  In 1994 Roger was brought into the company and became one of the major shareholders along with the other founders.  With virtually no capital and only a handful of employees it was a textbook boot-strap start-up.

At ESG Roger began to design and build the proprietary vibration sensors, electronic data acquisition systems that the company sold.  Specialized software to pin-point the locations and map micro-seismic events was also developed.  Seismologists could then process and interpret the data collected to give customers valuable insight into their operations.

Roger earned his Professional Engineering designation in 1998 and as the company grew began to take on more management responsibilities, overseeing engineering and manufacturing operations.

From 2004 to 2010 Roger took on the role of CEO and helped propel the company through an accelerated growth phase.  During his tenure, the company went from less than 20 to over 60 employees, achieved ISO 9001:2000 certification, expanded into new international markets (oil, gas, CO2 sequestration, civil) and established branch offices in Calgary, the US and China.

Roger is currently looking for opportunities to get involved in new business ventures.

Outside work he enjoys spending time with his wife and 4 year old daughter and competes in the Canadian Touring Car series (www.touringcar.ca) in his race prepared Acura Integra.

See the Information Flyer below, or visit their website at http://www.webdesignkingston.com/index.cfm/blog/info-session-series-e-commerce-content-management-systems/

Information Flyer

.Web Info Sessions – Not a Sales Pitch

Performance Plants Inc. (PPI) is focused on developing technologies through its Gene Discovery and Trait Development Program. The Company has validated and patented an array of world-leading second generation, commercial ready technologies to capitalize on the market for innovation in agricultural
and bioenergy crop markets.

New technologies are being sought after that can improve the yield, quality and productivity of food and bioenergy crops. Yield is
particularly important as demand for grain is projected to increase significantly worldwide. Crop demand is being driven by a variety of factors including: low global grain stocks, the addition of 3.0 billion more mouths to feed by 2050, increasing animal protein demand from the “BRIC” countries (Brazil,
Russia, India and China) and growing demand from the bioenergy sector to replace coal, oil and natural gas with renewable fuels made from biological
feedstocks.

Global food and energy security concerns combined with climate change realities has brought to the forefront the challenges many countries face with drought and heat-induced agricultural problems.  In recent years, governments like China, have made finding solutions to these problems a national priority.  With only 7% of the world’s arable land and 6% of its water sources being used to feed more than 20% of the world’s population, part of the solution to this ever pressing concern is through technology.  Enter Performance Plants Inc..

Increasing yield has become a main concern for the agricultural food and non-food biotechnology industry.  Performance Plants is the first Canadian ag-biotech company to sign licensing agreements with the Chinese, opening new markets and proving itself, once again, as a global leader. Industry insiders see 2012 as a favorable year for crop protection and Performance Plants projects even more success with its weather-proofing, biomass and yield enhancement technologies.

About PPI’s Technologies:

PPI’s Yield Protection Technology® (“YPT®”) is most advanced and enables plants to better tolerate drought conditions and to produce higher seed yield under limited water conditions. In addition, PPI has a series of breakthrough technologies in different stages of development: Heat & Drought Tolerance Technology (“HDT™”) preserves yield by enhancing plants’ tolerance to heat, drought or combined stresses. Water Use Efficiency Enhancement Technology (“WET™”) allows plants to maintain their high productivity through extended periods of limited available water, Yield Enhancement Technology (“YET™”) is a technology that can boost seed yield under both optimal and stress growth conditions, Biomass Enhancement Technology (“BET™”) is ideally suited for large biomass applications such as biomass feedstock (for cellulosic ethanol and coal replacement) as well as fibre and forage by more biomass by boosting vegetative plant growth, and Enhanced Conversion Technology (“ECT™”) products resolves the second half of the biofuels dilemma – making the plant’s tough cell walls more easily converted to biofuel.

PPI’s Timeline of Accomplishments:

In 1998, PPI formed collaboration with the University of Toronto on improved Drought Tolerance & Yield Protection Technology® (YPT®) and later that year executed its first licensing agreement with Dow.  This agreement helped to establish PPI as more than a Research and Discovery Trait Company.

In 2003, the company received the Kingston Technology Council’s Pinnacle Award, in recognition of innovation, entrepreneurship and community ontribution in the area of technology.

PPI was acknowledged in 2005 by the Canadian Biotechnology Industry as the country’s “Most Promising Canadian Early Stage Biotechnology
Company.”  This award recognized Performance Plants as a Canadian company with demonstrated leadership and significant achievements. 

In 2006, PPI completed a financing round of $12 million, making it the largest private investment in an ag-biotech company in Canada at that time.

In 2007, PPI became the first Canadian Ag-Biotech company to license intellectual property (YPT® in white maize) to Africa for noncommercial purposes.  PPI entered into a noncommercial agreement w Africa Harvest Biotech Foundation International (AHBFI). Dr. Florence Wambugu, Chief Executive Officer, AHBFI, a leading proponent of change in modern African agricultural science, is a Kenyan, American and U.K. trained plant pathologist dedicating her life’s work to the belief that biotechnology holds the key to food self-sufficiency for Africa, said “This is not only good work, it’s good business.”

In 2008, PPI once again secured another successful round of financing completing a $13 million equity round of financing.  YPT® was featured in the prestigious Science magazine, The Blue Revolution, Drop by Drop, Gene by Gene, 11 April 2008: 171-173 issue.

In 2009, Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt and Vicky Sharpe, SDTC President and Chief Executive Officer, Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) announced over $5 million dollars in funding to further advance PPI’s trait technologies that improve conversion of cellulose into cost-effective biofuels and biochemical.

In 2010, PPI went on permanent display at Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry in an exhibit titled Hardy Plants: Engineered to Resist  Drought,.
The exhibit includes a 3D showing of the results of drought resistance tests in canola in a credited time lapse video as well as live plants under different watering conditions.

With the appointment of Dr. Yafan Huang, Ph.D, as President and Chief Scientific Officer, 2011 earmarks PPI’s most successful year, seeing the
company’s highest level of research and commercial agreements signed within a one year period. With international focus on climate weather change, maturing ag-biotech markets and expansion into the consumer market, PPI continues to be a global technology leader.

During a mission to Yangling, Shaanxi Province of China, in November 2010, PPI discussed and finalized a framework for a technology transfer and product commercialization partnership with the Shaanxi Hybrid Rapeseed Research Center that would accelerate product development and facilitated entry into China’s canola seed market.  This would lead to a Memorandum of Understanding at the Fourth China-Canada-Israel Roundtable on Agri-Innovation at the CAF2011 in Yangling on November 7, 2011.

These deals represent PPI’s strategic business development plan to form global technology and product development alliances for commercialization of the company’s leading technologies.

In July 2011, the Company signed a commercial licensing agreement for corn and a four year R&D agreement for rice and soybean with the Beijing Dabeinong Technology Group Co. Ltd. (DBN).  DBN and PPI, will collaborate to develop new corn, rice and soybean varieties with the Drought Tolerance & Yield Protection Technology® (YPT®), Heat & Drought Tolerance Technology (HDT™), Water Efficiency Technology™ (WET™) and Yield Enhancement
Technology (YET™) trait technologies.  This multi-trait agreement is the company’s first commercial agreement fast tracking product commercialization using PPI’s technologies with one of the largest agricultural company in China. The signing ceremony was graciously hosted by the Kingston Economic Development Corporation (KEDCO) and was held at City Hall in Kingston, Ontario.

Two more significant agreements were signed in November and December 2011, licensing HDT™ in cotton to Biocentury Transgene (China) Co. Ltd. in China, and Bayer CropScience AG. (Monheim, Germany) to produce seeds world-wide excluding China.  These agreements signify the company’s expansion into the consumer market and showcases the advantages of PPI’s trait stacking capabilities.

2012 is no less active, with PPI having signed two separate agreements to allow its North-American commercial partners to continue their evaluation of the licensed PPI technologies. These agreements represent partner confidence in the YPT® technology and signal the good progress in developing the technology into product lines.  More commercial agreements are being developed with a series of ‘market gate-keepers’ in different key agricultural regions of the world.

The Company:

Performance Plants Inc. (PPI) is a privately-held Canadian company, headquartered with R&D facilities in Kingston, Ontario.   PPI is a global leader in the
development of second-generation agricultural biotechnologies. The company’s patented technologies weatherproof food and non-food biofuel crops through
periods of drought and heat stress resulting in a more abundant, consistent and cost-effective harvests for farmers, and feedstock suppliers.

PPI was founded in 1995, by Dr. David Dennis, FRSC, Professor from Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, to discover and develop an array of agricultural-biotechnologies to improve the yield and productivity of crops.  The company successfully evolved from a research powerhouse to a company focused on developing and commercializing products based on its robust gene-discovery pipeline. PPI has secured licensing and development agreements with several major multinational seed companies including Pioneer Hi-Bred, Bayer CropScience, Syngenta, Stine Seeds, RiceTec, and Scotts Miracle Gro. More recently, PPI has entered into exciting new partnerships with leading Chinese ag-biotech and seed companies: Beijing Dabeinong Technology Group Co., Ltd and Biocentury Transgene (China) Co. Ltd.

“Performance Plants is positioned to be a leading agricultural trait developer and provider of superior ag-biotechnologies for significant improvement in crop performance and productivity world-wide.  Through our partnerships, with both multinational seed companies and strong regional partners, farmers around the world will soon be able to benefit from the high-performance superior seed products containing our technologies. ” says Dr. Yafan Huang, President and CSO at Performance Plants.

“For a technology company to be able to play a significant role in the international market, the road to success starts long before the agreement signing ceremonies.

Performance Plants has received timely expert assistance in various business areas from organizations such as MaRS, Launch Lab and KEDCO.  I believe that they are part of our success story”.

Small Ontario county lures Silicon Valley startup

An innovative twist in a 25-year-old federal program for rural development is turning an area known for its apples into “rural Ontario’s app island.”

Prince Edward County, which until now has mostly attracted retirees, is suddenly witnessing the arrival of young entrepreneurs such as Steven Chan, who’s moving his startup gaming and animation company from California’s high-tech Silicon Valley to tiny Picton, on the shores of Lake Ontario.

Read More…

VentureStart was developed to help entrepreneurs in Southern Ontario with the launch of new enterprises. The program is designed to enhance the success rate of start-up ventures by providing business skills training, business launch mentoring and up to $30,000 in seed capital to qualified entrepreneurs. You can see the website for detailed information – www.venturestart.ca

Eligibility:

To be eligible for VentureStart, you must reside in Southern Ontario, be a graduate of a university or college program in science, technology, engineering or mathematics, and intend to start your business in Southern Ontario. There is no age restriction. The VentureStart applicant must be the founder or co-founder of their new start-up business (only one founder/co-founder can apply from a partnership). To be eligible, a business must meet the following definition of a start-up: a company that has been in operation for less than a year and has received no more than $100,000 in investment or revenue.

About the Fund

Fund summary

The MaRS Cleantech Fund provides early-stage funding to cleantech companies through its strategic relationship with the highly successful MaRS Discovery District.

Opportunity and challenge

The global demand for clean and sustainable technologies will continue to grow, fueled by rising energy prices, climate change and resource scarcity. Within this sector, the greatest investment opportunity lies in providing early-stage capital for emerging companies. However, few funds have the ability to capitalize on early-stage deals because the resource commitment per deal is too high. The Fund unlocks this opportunity through its experienced management team and its relationship with MaRS.

Investment strategy and execution

The Fund will focus on early-stage cleantech companies that meet the following criteria:

• Capital efficient
• Able to reach a meaningful milestone with an investment of $1–4 million
• Have strong intellectual property and a large global market opportunity
• Strong management teams or a willingness to build a strong team
• Have strong gross margins and a rational valuation

The investment team, located at MaRS, will be able to identify these companies early in their development and will use this advantage to move quickly on relationship-building with entrepreneurs, due diligence and investment decisions.

The investment team will seek to act as lead investor in these early-stage companies, and will take a hands-on management approach with portfolio companies to mitigate early-stage risks.

For more info, please visit http://marsvf.com/.

The Portal incorporates TFP Search™—a unique database of all federal, provincial and municipal public funding and tax incentive programs, incorporating more than 4200 funds disbursing over $16 billion in funding per year.

Click here to subscribe to its free weekly newsletter on public funding trends and announcements.”

In partnership with

The Office of Small and Medium Enterprises (OSME)
Public Works and Government Services Canada

Doing Business with the Government of Canada
Understanding the Process – the Fundamentals

Tuesday, May 1, 2012
9:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.

Boardroom at Innovation Park
945 Princess Street, Kingston, Ontario

Topics to be covered include:

•  The fundamentals of selling goods and services to the Government of Canada
•  What you need to do to become a supplier
•  Registering your company
•  Searching for opportunities
•  Marketing your product or service

There is no fee to attend this event but you must be registered. Please note the
event will fill up fast and is available on a first come, first served basis.

Register before April 27, 2012
Lenore Hass
Kingston Economic Development Corporation (KEDCO)
E-mail: reception@ kingstoncanada.com
Phone: 613-544-2725 ext. 7236

A native of Southern Ontario, Michael was transferred to Miami, Florida early in his career to manage a surplus military aircraft parts business, selling mainly to the various Air Forces in Central America.

Five years later Michael founded, owned and operated an electronics manufacturing company in Miami Florida which peaked at 110 employees.

Early in 2006, after twenty-two years of successful operation Michael sold the company very profitably to a large US corporation.

From 2006 to February 2012 Michael has been self-employed as a Turnaround Specialist, helping troubled companies or troubled divisions of successful companies become profitable.

In July 2011 Michael and his wife moved back to Canada residing in Carrying Place, Ontario.

In March 2012 Michael became the CEO of Kingston-based Launch Lab. Launch Lab is a team of CEO’s, ex-CEO’s, and professional analysts who help technology-based companies grow and commercialize their products. Launch Lab focuses on four industries: information and communication technology, green tech, life science, and advanced manufacturing. Launch Lab is a non-profit organization, so these services are offered at no cost for qualified clients.

Michael’s business travels have taken him too many countries of the world. He is both a Canadian and US citizen and is the inventor and owner of one US patent.

Through PARTEQ Innovations, one of the leading technology transfer and commercialization organizations in North America, the university has been and continues to be a leader in transferring discoveries from labs and classrooms into products, services and processes used in industry and commerce on a daily basis around the world.

Queen’s is pleased to be a foundation sponsor of Launch Lab.  Over the last three years, Queen’s has taken great strides to stimulate interaction amongst all participants in the research and innovation process in south eastern Ontario, with the aim of:

• addressing industry‐relevant challenges in research and development, talent and commercialization
• engaging other universities and colleges in the region
• fostering interaction among academic, industry, not‐for‐profit organizations and service providers engaged in the innovation ecosystem, through co‐location and networking
• providing access to specialized resources, infrastructure and technical expertise
• advancing technology development and commercialization through demonstration projects
• enhancing opportunities for meaningful industry collaboration opportunities for faculty and students of Queen’s University
• stimulating economic development and vitality in south eastern Ontario.

The university is leading the establishment of Innovation Park, a 50 acre research park in the heart of Kingston and a growing physical hub for dynamic interfaces between the university, industry and government.  Working with the Kingston Economic Development Corporation (KEDCO) and other partners, including the Novelis Kingston R&D Centre, Queen’s is developing an important footprint within the city that enhances and facilitates relationships and business development opportunities.  Innovation Park is currently the only university research park east of the GTA and will be an important catalyst for positive economic impact for the city and region.

Queen’s has also designated a client‐friendly “front door” and business development capacity to work directly with industry to build mutually beneficial relationships and partnerships.  For more information, visit www.queensu.ca/industry and www.innovationpark.ca.