The ag technology organization received $230,000 to help with product development
By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com
A Saskatchewan autonomous equipment company received government funding to support its product development.
DOT Technology Corporation (DOT) received $230,000 from Innovation Saskatchewan through its Saskatchewan Advantage Innovation Fund.
The investment signals government confidence in the company’s work, said Cory Beaujot, marketing and communication manager with DOT.
“It’s been very humbling for us,” Beaujot told Farms.com yesterday. “We’ve done a lot of our own investment in the last little while to move things forward, and this investment will keep DOT’s development moving forward in a great way.”
The company is exploring how to best use the investment.
The bulk of the funding might be used within DOT to further explore the possibilities of autonomous technology, Beaujot said.
“Since we’ve started staffing up our programming significantly over the last year, there are funds we could allot to that,” he said. “Those individuals are crucial and the pieces they’re working on are so important for product development.”
Another potential investment avenue involves safety. This topic is paramount to DOT’s operations, and money allocated to safety would be well spent, Beaujot said.
“Safety is a huge piece of the puzzle here as we move forward with this autonomous technology,” he said. “Any investments into safety are good for the company but also good for our customers.”
The company may also use the funds to develop relationships with external partners, Beaujot said.
“DOT is a very collaborative product,” he said. “We’ve already established a firm partnership with Pattison Liquid Systems, who have developed some implements to mount on DOT.
“But for DOT to be increasingly valuable to farmers, we need to forge partnerships with implement manufacturers around the world.”