By Geoff Smith (@GeoffSmithLNN on Twitter)

Lethbridge part of two “supercluster” finalists

Oct 16, 2017 | 5:20 AM

LETHBRIDGE – A shortlist of nine candidates narrowed down for potential “supercluster” funding by the federal government could leave the Lethbridge area in a very good position to benefit.

Ottawa plans to spend $950 million investing in clusters of innovation, aimed at major economic growth. Nine finalists were announced over the past week out of more than 50 applicants.

Trevor Lewington, CEO of Economic Development Lethbridge, says it’s involved with not one but two of the finalists. One is a Smart Agri-Food Supercluster, based out of Olds College and with Agrium, Inc. as the applicant. Lewington said the University of Lethbridge and Lethbridge College are among the partners, along with other local groups. Its focus is on the use of technology such as satellite imaging.

Lethbridge and regional partners are also working with Protein Innovation Canada Supercluster, which has Ag-West Bio as its applicant and is based in Saskatchewan. The value-added processing sector in Lethbridge could benefit from investment in this project.

“Lethbridge stands to gain, whether one or both of those gains supercluster funding,” Lewington said. “Lethbridge will continue to be a player in both of those and hopefully be a part of that.”

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The nine finalists must submit final proposals by Nov. 24 to be considered. Lewington said four or five will be chosen.

“The federal government has to, of course, balance regional considerations,” he explained. “So the fact that two of the nine come from the Prairie provinces — one of those seems likely to go forward. I also think that agriculture’s a key sector of the economy.”

He said there’s also a possibility the two agriculture-focused proposals might be combined into one.

The successful applicants will receive contributions from Ottawa, which must be matched by the applicant partners. The expectation is that the investments will lead to economic growth and job creation.

“If some of those monies come to our community or to our region we could see an industry locate here, or industry that’s here develop as a result,” Lewington added.

He expects the winning superclusters will be announced early in the new year, with money flowing into projects over a three-year period.