MarineTalk captures CANARIE E-business funding

CANARIE Inc has awarded $3.3 million to MarineTalk Ltd, a Vancouver-based developer of Internet-based software applications for the marine industry and other vertical business sectors. The funding was awarded under CANARIE’s E-business program, which is allocating $26 million between 1999 and 2004 towards e-business initiatives. The latest award will support development and deployment of Marine-Talk’s sourcing management and requisition tool (SMART) that emulates interaction between a user and a human engineering expert to produce comprehensive technical information and accurate bids for procurement. It’s estimated that poorly defined procurements can add up to 25% in overruns during equipment installation or retrofitting, and penalties for late work completion and ship delivery. The project comes shortly after the release of Industry Canada’s shipbuilding policy, which stresses innovation as a means to making the sector more competitive (R$, June25/01)….