Chicago Innovation, a non-profit organization that focuses on promoting innovation excellence in the city, selects award recipients each year for Chicago’s foremost recognition of its most innovative new products, services and companies. The Consulate General of Canada in Chicago was awarded the collaboration award at the 2023 Chicago Innovation Awards – the first time in history that a foreign government office was awarded this honor.
The Consulate General was recognized for its collaboration with several highly regarded incubators, accelerators and innovation hubs, including the MATTER healthcare incubator, the mHUB hardtech innovation center, and the 1871 technology innovation hub. The Consulate General actively promotes Canadian innovations in food, clean-tech, and quantum technologies with different local partners. These initiatives have led to cross-border partnerships and collaborations and have created stronger ties between the Canadian and Chicago innovation ecosystems. They have also helped scores of Canadian client companies enter the U.S. market.
Transport Genie – an Ontario-based company – was one of the Canadian companies served by the Consulate General and its President and CEO, Joel Sotomayor, noted:
The challenges of supply chain logistics are paramount…We are indebted to the Consulate General of Canada in Chicago for their unwavering support for Transport Genie and introducing us to other…innovators and investors to advance our technologies, create new partnerships and synergies, while solving key problems in the ever-changing supply chain industry.
The award was accepted onstage by Consul General Madeliene Féquière and her trade team. “It is an honour to be the first (foreign office) to receive such recognition. We want to thank all our partners in Chicago through the years who made this possible.”
The Consulate General was one of twenty-two recipients out of 350 nominees, who collectively are responsible for generating over $3.8 billion in new revenues and creating over 10,000 jobs in the Chicago area.
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