The founders of IXON selected Edmonton over a number of other jurisdictions due to the region’s unique combination of world-class research, infrastructure, and network of support.
“After much travelling in July and August, we ultimately picked Alberta as the home for our first international office due to its tremendous support for start-ups, its outstanding quality meats, especially beef and pork, as well as its wealth of resources, including expertise in food safety, product development, and mechanical engineering,” stated Felix Cheung, Founder and CEO, IXON Food Technology.
IXON is a graduate of Creative Destruction Lab-Rockies (CDL-Rockies). Located at the University of Calgary’s Haskayne School of Business, CDL-Rockiesbrings together experienced entrepreneurs, investors, and scientists to mentor technology and science-based start-ups in their pursuit to build scalable businesses. CDL-Rockies introduced IXON to top-tier mentors, including partners from The51 Food and Ag-Tech fund, a $50 million fund investing in outlier entrepreneurs solving the planet’s most urgent food-related climate, environmental, and farming challenges.
“Creating a conducive climate for attracting investment and growing our economy is about having the right conditions for success in place,” said Rajan Sawhney, Alberta Minister of Trade, Immigration and Multiculturalism. “IXON’s decision to come to Alberta is proof that companies from across Canada and around the world are paying attention to the economic climate we have created in Alberta. Our province provides low corporate taxes, a government that actively supports free enterprise and is committed to reducing red tape. We also offer a highly skilled and ready workforce accompanied by easy access to global markets. We are excited to see IXON come to Alberta, and we are ready to receive other organizations that are looking to grow and prosper in our province.”
The51 Food and AgTech Fund arranged an Alberta tour to connect IXON with Alberta’s investment ecosystem players, including the University of Alberta, Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) and Edmonton Global, with each providing significant expertise in ag-tech, logistics, and infrastructure in the capital region. Invest Alberta provided tailored services as a connector to government, academia, and economic development partners to make IXON’s decision to invest in the province an easy one.
“We are preparing the contracts for IXON to perform microbiological challenge studies with pilot-scale equipment,” added Dr. Michael Gänzle, University of Alberta, Faculty of Agricultural, Life and Environmental Science. “This project will build on our expertise related to challenge studies for novel processing technologies and will make use of the unique facilities for pilot-scale processing in a Biosafety Level 2 environment at Agri-Food Discovery Place.”
IXON is currently building a pilot automated line in Edmonton and expects to begin introducing its products, which will include Alberta beef and pork, to customers worldwide by 2024. The pilot line will have the capacity to produce four tonnes of packaged meat daily, which the company expects to increase to 20 tonnes per day and beyond once a full commercial line is in place.
“Alberta is known for driving innovation and bringing together the right people to achieve an ambitious vision,” Rick Christiaanse, Invest Alberta CEO. “Alberta is positioned to transform the food technology sector and modernize the food industry with collaborative partnerships between investors, post-secondary institutions, and economic development agencies being fundamental to our success.”
IXON will continue researching and developing its food-packaging technologies, furthering Alberta’s position as the ideal place for growth and development in the food technology sector.
