Updated:
Next Generation Manufacturing Canada
Launched in 2017 under Canada's Innovation Superclusters Initiative, Next Generation Manufacturing Canada (NGen) operates from Hamilton, Ontario, as the...
Next Generation Manufacturing Canada
Launched in 2017 under Canada's Innovation Superclusters Initiative, Next Generation Manufacturing Canada (NGen) operates from Hamilton, Ontario, as the industry-led convener for the country's advanced manufacturing sector. Myers, previously the CEO of Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters, presides over a public-private co-investment model that the federal government seeded with roughly C$230 million — an anchor commitment designed to catalyze collaborative technology projects across factory automation, additive manufacturing, and clean industrial processes. NGen does not write equity checks. Instead it structures and partially funds collaborative projects — typically a consortium of an industrial lead, one or more technology SMEs, and a university or college partner — where the combined industry investment must exceed the NGen contribution. Programs span AI-driven quality assurance, collaborative robotics, lightweight materials, and digital twin deployments. More than 160 projects have been launched, drawing participation from firms like Maple Leaf Foods, Magna International, and MDA Space alongside startups such as CarbiCrete and Myra Vision. Geographically, activity clusters in the Ontario-Quebec corridor and extends to the Prairie provinces and British Columbia. By mid-2024 NGen reported that its funded consortia had generated over C$2.8 billion in new product sales and follow-on investment — a multiple on the public capital deployed that the organization uses to anchor its economic-impact narrative. The team, numbering in the dozens, runs a lean program-management operation from Hamilton, supplemented by sector specialists embedded across Canada's manufacturing regions. NGen also administers the national workforce-development program Career-Ready with Co-op, placing students into paid advanced-manufacturing internships, and manages the Global Innovation Cluster network's manufacturing node. Structurally, NGen is a novelty: a not-for-profit that acts with the discipline of a strategic investor and the network architecture of a venture platform, but without taking equity or demanding commercial returns. Its governance ties it to the priorities of Industry Canada while its project-selection committees are industry-led, creating a dual-mandate tension between national industrial policy and commercial ROI. That tension — government scale without government operational control — distinguishes it from strictly public R&D funders and from the corporate venture arms of its own industrial members.
General information
Firm type
other
Year founded
2017
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
North America
Country
Canada
City
Hamilton
Corporate office
Hamilton, ON, Canada
Principals
Jayson Myers
Chief Executive Officer
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who runs investment decisions at NGen?
Jayson Myers has served as Chief Executive Officer since the organization's launch in 2017. Project funding decisions are made through an industry-led evaluation process rather than a conventional investment committee — proposals are assessed by panels drawn from NGen's membership base of manufacturers, technology firms, and academic institutions, with final approval by the organization's board of directors.
Does NGen take equity or board seats in the companies it funds?
No. NGen operates as a not-for-profit that co-invests through non-repayable contributions, reimbursing project-eligible costs up to a capped percentage of total spending. It does not take equity, earn royalties, or hold board seats, which means upside from successful projects accrues entirely to the commercial partners in each consortium.
How is NGen related to the Canadian government?
NGen was created under the federal government's Innovation Superclusters Initiative and received an initial anchor commitment of roughly C$230 million from the Strategic Innovation Fund. While the government sets high-level objectives and monitors outcomes through contribution agreements, day-to-day operations and project-selection authority rest with NGen's independent industry-led management and board.
What sectors does NGen explicitly focus on?
NGen directs funding toward advanced-manufacturing applications including automation and robotics, additive manufacturing, AI-driven process optimization, clean industrial technologies, advanced materials, and cybersecurity for operational technology. It has also launched dedicated streams for mining and minerals processing, electric-vehicle supply-chain innovation, and biomanufacturing.
Can foreign companies participate in NGen-funded projects?
NGen's mandate is to strengthen Canadian manufacturing, so the lead applicant and a majority of consortium members must be Canadian entities. International companies can participate as minority consortium partners or as end-users of project outputs, but the core intellectual property and economic benefit must accrue within Canada. NGen's terms require that all project collaborative spend stay domestic.
How is NGen different from a conventional venture capital fund?
NGen does not deploy capital for equity, does not charge management fees or carry, and does not seek financial returns. Its metric is industrial output — product sales, follow-on revenue, and jobs created. This makes it a deployment partner for hardware and industrial-tech firms that have capital-expenditure needs but are not yet structured for traditional venture financing, filling a gap between public R&D grants and commercial-scale debt or equity.
What is NGen's known posture on intellectual property developed during projects?
NGen does not claim ownership of resulting intellectual property. IP rights are negotiated among the consortium members before a project begins, with terms codified in a collaboration agreement. NGen's primary condition is that the IP be commercialized within Canada, supporting the domestic advanced-manufacturing ecosystem.
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
Need institutional-grade insight on investors?
Altss delivers:
Prefer a guided tour?
We’ll walk you through: