Guelph ON, 28 March 2025 – A digital skills marketing training company is the newest collaborative partner in Canada’s Food & Agri-Tech Engine. Jelly Academy and Bioenterprise Canada have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to join forces in supporting entrepreneurs in the agri-tech innovation space.
The Engine is a national ecosystem of advisors, partners, members, and mentors who work together to advance agri-food innovation across Canada by sharing information, services and resources.
One of the big gaps in Canada’s agri-tech innovation ecosystem is entrepreneur skills and training. This is according to the findings of the National Call to Action report released by Bioenterprise Canada last fall following a nationwide consultation process to identify what is needed to elevate Canada to an agri-food innovation superpower.
“We know that entrepreneurs are looking for training opportunities that will help them with activities like digital marketing, and during the national roundtable process, we heard from ecosystem partners that entrepreneurs need a greater degree of skill and expertise when working on commercialization,” says Dave Smardon, CEO of Bioenterprise. “That’s why this new partnership with Jelly Academy, a leading provider of digital marketing training, is so timely and we look forward to being able to connect Engine members and partners to their services.”
Jelly Academy’s principal focus area is helping small business owners, founders, and entry level marketers develop skills, adopt tools and deploy tactics that support the growth of business through digital marketing. Through a program funded by Upskill Canada (powered by Palette Skills) and the Government of Canada, their 10-week boot camp training is available for free to qualified participants.
“Our training is focused on the practical – the how – instead of just theory and we hope to give agri-tech and food businesses in the Bioenterprise network the opportunity to apply for our fully funded training,” says Chris Penner, Senior Operations Manager at Jelly Academy. “This partnership helps us bridge gaps and exchange resources to support businesses in this sector.”
About Bioenterprise Canada
Bioenterprise is Canada’s Food & Agri-Tech Engine. As the country’s national agri-technology focused commercialization accelerator, Bioenterprise uses its 20 years of industry experience and its national and international network of experts, mentors, funders, advisors, researchers, government and industry partners to help small and medium-sized agri-food businesses connect, innovate and grow.
About Jelly Academy
British Columbia-based Jelly Academy is a world leader in current and future-focused training, rapid reskilling, micro-training, digital skills training, and offering corporate team training certificate courses, workshops, association mentorship training, and events both online and at their learning studio.
For more information:
Dave Smardon, Bioenterprise Canada, dave.smardon@bioenterprise.ca
Chris Penner, Jelly Academy, chris@jellyacademy.com