Wpg Free Press: The power of many

As the Winnipeg Free Press reports:

The busy innovation ecosystem in Winnipeg just got a little more streamlined with the merger of the Eureka Project with AssentWorks and the RampUp Manitoba/Startup Winnipeg groups.

The new entity, called North Forge, will operate all the facilities that include Eureka’s 10,000-square-foot business incubator in Smartpark at the University of Manitoba’s Fort Garry campus and the Innovation Alley facilities of AssentWorks on Adelaide Street and two floors of an office building on McDermot Avenue….

The Eureka Project is Manitoba’s largest and oldest technology incubation program, formed about 13 years ago with the development of Smartpark.

It receives federal and provincial funding and supports about 25 companies.

Over time, its client companies have raised more than $130 million in financing and have created hundreds of jobs.

Stuart Henrickson, chairman of the board of Eureka and the I.H. Asper executive director for entrepreneurship at the Stu Clark Centre for Entrepreneurship at the University of Manitoba, said the university and Eureka’s board has been supportive of the move.

“We simply thought we needed to connect the community more,” Henrickson said.

The process took almost a year to complete, and along the way discussions were also held with other organizations.

“Over about nine months, we contemplated a bunch of different things, and this was the best fit,” he said.