It is with great pleasure and excitement that we at TSI wish to announce the inaugural issue of a quarterly newsletter distributed to our clients, strategic partners, and colleagues.

Some of the valuable content our newsletter includes consists of:

• Details about a different government grant program each quarter. These programs focus on a wide variety of applications, including R&D and innovation, commercialization of new products, exporting, hiring of youth and students, efficiency improvements, environmental improvements, training, digital media development, and much more
• Any relevant legislative updates or industry news regarding SR&ED or other grant programs that may impact our clients, including any newly-released programs
• Company news, including upcoming events such as public seminars
• A short profile of one of our consultants to allow you to get to know our team better

In the future, we'll also feature stories about how our clients have successfully leveraged some of the government programs to their benefit.

We hope that you find this information useful, and may either make direct use of the information or pass it on to a colleague who may be applicable.
Best wishes for an exciting and prosperous new year.
Jason Schwandt, Vice President, Business Development
 

COMPANY NEWS
 

Several major changes have occurred at TSI over the last several months that we are excited to share.

First, you may have noticed that we have shortened our company name from Techcentive Services Inc. to simply TSI. Quite frankly, many people found our corporate name difficult to remember, so we've abbreviated it as an acronym. Along with the name change is a complete new rebranded look, with new marketing materials and a completely new web site offering more information that is easier than ever to access. Our web site address, email addresses, and phone numbers remain the same for consistency.

In addition, and perhaps more importantly, we have adjusted our strategic focus to broaden our scope of offerings to our clients. Our experience has been that while we have been assisting clients with their SR&ED submissions, we were in a unique position to identify strategic initiatives that our clients were undertaking. We found that in many cases, there were government grant, loan, and tax credit programs available to assist clients in achieving their objectives.

As part of our SR&ED offerings to clients, we now provide a complementary consultation on eligibility for these other programs. Whether you elect to utilize TSI to assist you in applying for these programs, or simply apply for them yourselves, the choice is yours. This value-added service is exclusive to TSI, and something we hope will differentiate us in the consulting marketplace. For more information or to arrange a complimentary assessment, please contact us.

UPCOMING EVENTS
 

Toronto-Humber Professional Engineers seminar

TSI is providing a seminar for the Toronto-Humber chapter of Professional Engineers Ontario on Wednesday January 27th from 7 pm to 8:30 pm. The seminar will focus on introducing the SR&ED program in a simple and easy to understand manner. The event will be held at the Holiday Inn Toronto Airport - East hotel (Etobicoke Room), located at 600 Dixon Road (at Martin Grove Road). The seminar is free, and open to Professional Engineers and their guests. Additional details and registration information can be found at the Humber chapter web site at: www.tohumber.peo.on.ca

Business Advantage Seminar

TSI is one of the presenters in an upcoming seminar entitled “Critical Success Factors for Small and Medium Enterprises”.  The event brings together presenters representing a compelling mix of talents, including some of the country’s top tax accountants, insurance specialists, investment advisors, financing and government grant providers, lawyers, bankers, business valuators, marketing, advertising, and media specialists, IT consultants, sales trainers, and employee retention specialists.  The theme is to enable participants to discover the critical winning factors needed to give their businesses a competitive advantage.  The event is held at the Venetian Banquet Hall and Hospitality Centre on May 6, 2010, from 7:30 am to 5pm.  For more information, see www.busadvantage.ca

FUNDING PROGRAM PROFILE: Industrial Research Assistance Program (IRAP)
 

This quarter, we present a summarized profile of the smaller cousin of the Industrial Research Assistance Program, the IRAP Small Project Accelerated Review Process. Please contact us for more information about this or other grant programs of interest.

Program name: IRAP Small Project Accelerated Review Process
 

Description:

• IRAP is a Canadian grant program administered by the National Research Council that helps fund innovation and commercialization. It provides non-repayable subsidized labour and subcontractor contributions to Canadian businesses interested in growing by developing technology or new products for Canadian and international markets.
• The IRAP program encompasses a smaller sub-program which may be more applicable to companies with smaller projects. The IRAP Small Project Accelerated Review Process has the same objective as IRAP, provides a smaller dollar contribution (maximum $50K), but offers a much faster approval turnaround (under 2 months, and often only several weeks).
• Includes a broad scope of eligible activities covering a range of technology, business, and market oriented support. Examples of eligible projects include:
• Competitive market research and competitive intelligence studies
• Technical and economic studies 
• Engineering and business advice
• Assessment of technology needs for adoption of technology 
• Lean manufacturing/productivity studies 
• Engineering process analysis
• Productivity enhancement studies 
• Development of business, sales and marketing plans
• Development of international strategies 
• Development of supply chain strategies
• Intellectual property management, licensing, and commercialization strategies 
• Feasibility study/assessment for new service or product venture 
• Financial/corporate restructure for improved growth potential

 Eligibility Requirements:

• Incorporated tax-paying entities supporting under 500 full-time employees operating in Canada.
• Company objective to grow profits through the adoption, adaptation, development, and commercialization of innovative or technology-driven new or improved products, services, or processes in Canada.
• Valuation:
• Covers projects with a maximum contribution of $50K, including 100% of internal labour and 75% of subcontractor fees, to a maximum of 75% of total project costs

Submission requirements:

• An initial meeting with an IRAP Industrial Technical Advisor at your facility, followed by a project proposal submission.
• Application Acceptance Criteria:
• Non-competitive, but limited by available funding (resulting in limited application acceptances each year).
• Obligations Upon Acceptance:
• Initial and ongoing meetings with NRC-IRAP staff who provide guidance and direction throughout the process.
• Company must maintain adequate project performance, accounting and employment records and provide regular reporting of status.
• Comments:
• The IRAP program generally exhausts funding in the latter part of each calendar year, with renewals early in the following year. Submit your application early to enter the queue.
• To determine if you qualify, contact IRAP at the number below and provide your postal code to the receptionist. You will be provided with the contact phone number of your local Industrial Technology Advisor who will meet at your facility and provide you with a free consultation about the program and a preliminary assessment of your eligibility.

Contact:

• Phone: 1-877-994-4727
• Website: http://irap-pari.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/

CONSULTANT PROFILES
 

Each quarter, we'll provide a profile of one of our consultants. Because our clients deal with our consultants on a regular basis, we felt it would be helpful to share some details not only on the experience of our team, but also some of their personal interests and hobbies. In this edition, we'll be profiling Lucy Rojao.
 

With over 13 years of diverse experience in process, product and business development, Lucy’s business and engineering expertise provides TSI with a cornerstone in the manufacturing sector. Her career as a Professional Engineer has included work in the industrial, electronics, coating technologies and aerospace sectors. Within aerospace, she was considered a site expert on CGP (Controlled Goods Program) and AS9100 at a multi-billion dollar organization. In addition, she has led large scale cross-functional SR&ED claims that involve participation from laboratory, test, process and product groups. Lucy possesses a degree in Metallurgical and Materials Science from Queen's University, which, when coupled with her industry experience, enables her to provide practical and effective strategic guidance to clients from a wide spectrum of industries. In her spare time, Lucy enjoys creating custom metalwork art using welding and plasma-cutting techniques through her personal company Girl Welder Productions.  Some of her work can be viewed on her web site at www.girlwelder.com

INDUSTRY NEWS: Changes to Canada Revenue Agency's requirements for SR&ED documentation
 

In late 2008, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) deployed a revised version of one of the key forms required for SR&ED applications, known as form T661. Although the core content of the SR&ED submission remains largely similar, the form has been revised to place a much higher focus on ensuring there is suitable available contemporaneous documentation to support a claim. The new form has a specific checklist to identify if the claimant has documentation such as project planning documents, design of experiments, project notebooks, source code, records of trial runs, progress reports and meeting minutes, test data and analysis of results, photos and videos, prototypes and scrap, as well as time sheets. More important than almost any other project record, the government desires to ensure the claimant is keeping track of time spent on SR&ED activities (by person, by project) in a contemporaneous manner, meaning that time is accurately tracked throughout the year rather than estimated at year-end.
As part of TSI's commitment to ensuring credible and successful claim submissions, we will be working closely with our clients to ensure they have a suitable time tracking process in place and are collecting appropriate documentation to meet the CRA's requirements. Contact us for more information about successfully managing your company's documentation systems.

CONTACT US
 

For more information about any of the content in this newsletter, or to arrange a complimentary consultation, please contact Jason Schwandt at 905-738-6770 x2010 or via jason@techcentiveservices.com.