THUNDER BAY – The Northwestern Ontario Innovation Centre today announced that it has been selected to join the Microsoft BizSpark Program as a Network Partner. The BizSpark Program is a global program designed to accelerate the success of early stage Startups by connecting them to Network Partners: active members of the global software ecosystem who can provide mentorship, guidance and resources to BizSpark Startups. BizSpark creates an ongoing, mutually beneficial relationship between Microsoft Corp., Startups and Network Partners.
“The Northwestern Ontario Innovation Centre is pleased to have Microsoft as a partner allowing our start-up companies to leverage World class development tools to provide our clients with a solid foundation on which to build their business on” says Nick Kolobutin of the NWO Innovation Centre. The Innovation Centre is hopeful to continue the relationship to expand its breadth of service offering to information technology clients such as mobile app and software developers.
The Northwestern Ontario Innovation Centre and Microsoft are committed to helping entrepreneurs transform their ambitions into sustainable, dynamic businesses and to foster innovation and entrepreneurialism. To this end, the BizSpark Program provides Startups with leading technology, business and technical support, and market and networking opportunities at a time when they are most valuable and least affordable—during their first three years, with no upfront costs and minimal requirements.
BizSpark gives Startups fast and easy access to Microsoft’s current full-featured development tools, platform technologies as well as production licenses to bring to market innovative and interoperable solutions for the next generation of user experiences. To be eligible for the Microsoft BizSpark Program, Startups must be actively engaged in development of a software-based product or service that is a core piece of their business model, have been in business less than three years at the time of enrollment, and have less than USD$1M in annual revenue. Startups may enroll for the program by obtaining an enrollment code from the Northwestern Ontario Innovation Centre.