Successful Enterprise Ireland Trade Mission To Canada

Several Lucrative Deals Signed By Irish Companies During Visit

By George Thompson

Micheál Martin T.D, Minister for Enterprise Trade and Employment last Friday completed a four-day Enterprise Ireland trade mission to Canada. The Trade Mission involved 36 Irish companies and visited Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal.

Commenting on the Trade Mission Minister Martin said: "The Enterprise Ireland's Trade Mission to Canada reinforces Ireland's commitment to working in partnership with Canada at Government, agency and business level to assist Irish companies. A number of high value business deals including partnerships, strategic alliances and direct sales contracts were successfully concluded during this important visit.

Enterprise Ireland's new office in Toronto will act as a focal point for Irish trade and business relations in Canada."

The minister pointed out a number of key deals which were announced by Enterprise Ireland client firms as part of the Trade Mission to Canada.

In a deal estimated to be worth CAN$3m, Galway based MusiCan today announced that Strategic Transitions Inc (STI) is to become the exclusive Canadian distributor of their music education software. MusiCan produce a fully interactive and animated music education product and have recently received the Curriculum Services Canada Seal of Quality. A pilot program is scheduled to take place later this year with the MusiCan resource being deployed to 32 schools in Ontario. MusiCanhas also licensed the use of its name to CARAS, the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.

Curum Software, a leading provider of Social Enterprise Management software solutions today announced a partnership with the Canadian Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB). In a further development Griffith College Dublin also announced a partnership with Seneca College, Canada's sixth largest college, which will facilitate co-operation on a number of educational programmes. Commenting on the announcements the Minister said: "The quality of these three deals concluded as part of Enterprise Irelands Trade mission to Canada this week is indicative of the ability of Irish companies to develop strong mutually beneficial international business relationships. The business concluded this week spans a number of diverse business sectors from education to technology to consumer products".

As part of the Enterprise Ireland Mission, Irish companies participated in over 80 scheduled meetings with key Canadian companies to explore possibilities for trade and for mutually beneficial partnerships and alliances. Irish companies also participated in a number of high level networking events involving over 500 executives.

During the week, deals estimated at over Can$40m were announced and Enterprise Ireland's new Toronto office was launched.