The GAAP Agri-food Technology Ecosystem Introduction Program, NAVIGATE, provides best-in-class novel Agri-Food Technology companies with an opportunity to participate in the GAAP incubator program and explore their expansion potential into the North American Marketplace and their fit within the ecosystem.
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Through NAVIGATE, the GAAP and Ag-West Bio have partnered to showcase the local region to global markets, attracting international start-ups that have created an innovative technology to solve on-farm and food industry challenges.
Navigate your expansion to North America with our unique incubation model and focus on tangible technologies.
2023 NAVIGATE Highlights
Ecosystem Training Day
The Ecosystem Training Day introduces Navigate participants to many of the funding programs and research partners that available here in Saskatchewan and Canada. Additionally, the Navigate program includes a Canadian Business Workshop, an introduction to Canadian taxes, law, regulatory, and IP, facilitated by local experts.
Tours
During our On-Farm and Food-Tech Navigate Programs participants toured a variety of farms, labs, research facilities, food production facilities and more! These tours provided first-hand insight to food production and processing practices in Canada as well as an opportunity to connect with sector experts.
1:1 Meetings
Connecting with relevant local experts is one of the most valuable aspects of the Navigate program. Our team carefully curates introductions between the program participants and local members of the business, research, and industry communities to share information, gather insight, and make connections for potential collaboration opportunities.
NAVIGATE Participants
Alejandro Barbarini, CEO & Co-Founder
"The entire program was excellent. I could highlight the most positive aspect as the opportunity to have not only general meetings with various stakeholders in the technological ecosystem but, most importantly, personal meetings. This was crucial in starting to consider potential individual strategies for activities or developments in Saskatoon. Also, spending almost the entire day with fellow entrepreneurs in similar situations was very enriching, just like strengthening personal connections with the GAAP team."
Isabella Fernandez Klimek, Co-Founder & COO
"GAAP gave us the opportunity to get to know the food ecosystem. It was great to get to meet four other companies working in fermentation and having the chance to share knowledge and experiences. We visited different facilities, fostering connections with remarkable individuals from diverse sectors, including industry experts, academics and the network associated with GAAP. It was instrumental in making these connections happen and providing access to all these resources, helping us understand better the ecosystem, which seems to be robust and supportive, something that is crucial for a start-up like ours."
(left to right) Edwin Nichols, Head of Sales and Support, Jack Wrangham, Co-Founder, Hugh Wrangham, Co-Founder, and Rob Ord, Agronomist
"GAAP has really helped with connecting us at Drone Ag with key players in the industry as well as producers and agricultural service providers. We also got to see some of our early adopters whilst in Saskatoon, Sk and it was very useful hearing their feedback."
(left to right) Michelle Demers, Head of Science, and Lewis Collins, CEO
"Thanks to GAAP, BioScout has been given the chance to explore opportunities for bringing our new technology to the Canadian agriculture sector. The wonderful team at GAAP has provided us with plenty of support such as connections to growers and organizations, and assistance navigating grants, helping us to maximize our opportunity for moving into this market."
Leah Bessa, Co-Founder & CSO
"I enjoyed how GAAP tailored the programme to each company’s needs, as well as giving a good overall picture of the agricultural eco-system in Saskatoon."
Tiffany Wood, Co-Founder and CEO
"GAAP gave me the opportunity through a very immersive experience to meet people who are in the breeding industry and really understand more about how it works in Canada and explore how our technology can be useful to them."
Federico Guelpa, Head of Strategy
"GAAP gave me the chance to meet with producers in person and learn what the big problems are here in Saskatchewan. We were also able to see and meet with different research facilities, entomologists, and the canola, wheat, and barley associations. These network connections showed me the research capabilities that offered in Saskatchewan."
Francisco Garbagnoli, Co-Founder & COO
"Thanks to GAAP I was able to see the openness and willingness of the team and ecosystem to offer potential growth opportunities and see if there is a fit for our start-up to scale up and start operations there."
Alex Palin, Co-Founder
"GAAP was able to help me find relevant people to meet with in this market. The program was prepared for us to get to know the province, what kind of business is valuable here, what farmers are doing and what their challenges are. We were able to experience different perspectives from different angles and different types of businesses and how it works here. And I think it's very specific and quite unique for the area."
Allard Langenhuijsen, Go to Market Manager
"GAAP gave us the opportunity to have great 1:1 and group meetings. It was great to see how a good portion of the food and ag community are involved and committed to helping start-ups grow."
Darren Wolchyn, Founder and CEO
Smart Paddock is an Australian company developing smart ear tags for the livestock industry that provides real-time information about the health and geo-location of all the individual cows in the herd. The device, dubbed the Bluebell, attaches securely onto the ear of each animal, and monitors the animal’s temperature, behavior, and geo-location/mobility, which the farmer can easily read from a web dashboard or mobile phone app.
(left to right) Roman Korbacka and Martina Drobna, Co-Founders and Managing Partners
"GAAP showed us how closely knit and supportive the company and the ecosystem are here in Canada. It can be difficult for a start-up, and it was a great help to see all the different parts of the agriculture ecosystem. We are considering Canada as an access point to this market, and we are definitely thinking about expanding here after going through the Navigate program."
Andrei Grespan, Co-Founder and CEO
"GAAP gave me the chance to learn the cultural side of Canada, learning from the locals and meeting with farmers. I was able to make good connections and I see Canada as the preferable country to expand our business into."