Oilsands Review - September 2006

WEBSITE LINKS EASTERN

MANUFACTURING WITH

WESTERN INDUSTRY

iCOSMO.ca acts as matchmaker

There’s a lot of wealth out west and a lot of manufacturing capacity out east. A new website, www.icosmo.ca, looks to pair the two.

Some of the eastern
provinces are taking
initiatives to dip into the
booming Alberta business
environment.

Eastern provinces like Newfoundland and New Brunswick have manufacturing capacity.

“A lot of manufacturing companies in Alberta aren’t able to bring on more work,” says Cindy Goodyear, a public affairs officer with Alberta Economic Development (AED). She says that some of the eastern provinces are taking initiatives to dip into the Alberta business pool. “New Brunswick came to us and said, ‘We want to help you out.’” iCOSMO aims to strengthen interprovincial relationships.

The website, which stands for “innovative Canadian Oil Sands Manufacturing Opportunities,” claims to “provide companies that have opportunities related to the Oil Sands a portal to solicit goods and services from Canadian Manufacturers.”

ALL PHOTOS: Joey Podlubny

James Cleland, AED’s director of metal fabrication, says the New Brunswickers came out west in January with their pitch.

“Business New Brunswick and the Metal Working Association of New Brunswick came to us about connecting with oilsands companies that needed capacity,” Cleland says. “They said they didn’t want to take away our business. Rather, they wanted to partner.”

At the same time, talks were taking place between senior AED officials and senior Industry Canada officials about how other manufacturers in Canada could take advantage of the boom in Alberta, Cleland recounts.

“So the dialogue started at that level. Eventually, it was decided to pass control over to the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters (CME). Support, in terms of personnel and funding, came from many organizations, including the Alberta government, the Ontario government, and Industry Canada.”

The iCOSMO website is the culmination of these efforts. “We don’t have the resources to do one-on-one matchmaking,” Cleland says, “but we thought a web portal might facilitate these one-on-one introductions.”

In an advertising piece, iCOSMO asks: “How solid is your supply chain?” The organization goes on to say that there will be $100 billion plus in capital projects generated over the next 10 years, offering immense opportunity for all Canadians.