Kelowna, B.C. - Community Futures Development Corporation of Central Okanagan has received $60,000 from Western Economic Diversification, through the Rural Economic Development Initiative (REDI-BC), for the Okanagan Valley High Tech Market Expansion Project. This project is a continuation of the successful working partnership between the Central Okanagan Economic Development Commission, Community Futures of Central Okanagan and the Okanagan Valley High Tech community.

“The High Tech Market Expansion builds a foundation for exciting new economic opportunities in rural BC,” said Kelowna-Lake Country MP Ron Cannan, on behalf of the Honourable Lynne Yelich, Minister of State for Western Economic Diversification. “This initiative will accelerate the diversification of the Okanagan Valley economy and will enhance competitiveness of our local high technology sector. It will also create jobs and grow the economy.”

The purpose of the Okanagan Valley High Tech Market Expansion Project is to create a more targeted external market development plan and programming that accelerates the commercialization and expansion of the Okanagan Valley technology cluster. Specifically, the project will design and execute on a series approximately five Western North America Strategic Partnership events, aimed at providing new sales and communication channels, as well as advisory role opportunities.

metabridge, the flagship campaign developed in 2008 in the first round of REDI-BC funding, is a key program of the project that is designed to provide practical hands on experiences for founders and CEO's of Okanagan Valley start-ups. Participants receive one-on-one interactivity with senior leaders, high level training on deal making, investment strategies and commercialization opportunities.

The Central Okanagan Economic Development Commission has been the leader in developing metabridge and at the most recent event, metabridge BC June 2011, the success of the event demonstrated the tremendous opportunity that exists for the Okanagan Valley technology sector to become more competitive and diversify into new markets.

The overall project strategy will focus on two primary areas for technology companies -  market expansion into California’s Silicon Valley and capacity building around investment capital and business development.