June 12, 2009
UNB News Release:

A new federal government program will help small- and medium size firms across Canada grow while also providing information technology internships to students.

The new Industry Canada program, called the Small Business Internship Program (SBIP), was announced Friday morning at the University of New Brunswick Saint John.

UNB is pleased to have been part of the pilot project that led to the development of SBIP, which provide 400 students nationwide with employment annually and will receive $17.5 million in funding through 2014 under the Government of Canada's Youth Employment Strategy.

Under the SBIP, businesses will be able to hire a student for a 12- week period to help them establish an e-commerce project related to their business. SBIP will reimburse up to 75 per cent of each participating businesses eligible salary and benefit costs for the student.

Saint John MP Rodney Weston announced the new program on behalf of The Honourable Diane Ablonczy, minister of state (small business and tourism).

"SBIP will help numerous businesses here in Saint John grow through the power of information and communications technologies and e- commerce," said Weston.

UNB Saint John's Electronic Commerce Centre developed the foundation for the new federal program based on research it has conducted over the past several years with small- and medium-size firms.

Daniel Doiron, Director of the centre, said that research has shown that while many firms have websites, less than half of those with an Internet presence use the sites to perform secure e-commerce transactions with customers.

"Most businesses that have taken their sites to the next step by adding e-commerce have done so with the help of a facilitator," he said. "The SBIP program will enable students to be that facilitator."

In addition to helping design the new federal program, the centre will also help deliver it in New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island.

It's not the first time the centre has gone into the local and regional communities to help businesses. The E-Commerce Centre has recently completed a round of 50 community visits across Atlantic Canada designed to help local firms improve the way they leverage the Internet to grow their firms.

"As New Brunswick's national comprehensive university, we have an important role to play in helping grow the local, regional and national economy," said Doiron.

Robert MacKinnon, vice-president of UNB Saint John, said he's pleased with the role UNB played in the development of the SBIP.

"UNB Saint John was a pioneer when we introduced an electronic commerce program and an Electronic Commerce Centre more than a decade ago," he said. "This Centre has found a way to apply the research that we do at UNB to assist small and medium sized businesses to compete in an increasingly competitive global environment. We are proud of the work done through the centre."

Established in 1785, UNB is one of the oldest public universities in North America. It's also one of the top five comprehensive universities in Canada, according to Maclean's magazine. UNB has more than 12,000 students from over 100 countries. As the largest research institution in New Brunswick, UNB conducts 80 per cent of the province's university research. It has more than 3,500 faculty and staff, and an annual operating budget of more than $163 million. UNB's two main campuses are located in Fredericton and Saint John, N.B.

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