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RBC announces $1.5 million to support entrepreneurship and family enterprise

Most recent in series of RBC's initiatives to support business and innovation

November 23, 2004 - RBC Financial Group, through RBC Foundation, announced a donation of $1.5 million to the University of Alberta's School of Business-Centre for Entrepreneurship and Family Enterprise. This is one of a number of significant recent announcements to support business and innovation.

RBC's donation to the University of Alberta will enable its Centre to deliver innovative programs and research, providing business families with knowledge and skills in areas like succession, family wealth, shareholder relationships, governance, and communication.

"We believe that if Canada is to compete with other countries for talent, investment and economic growth, we must invest in intellectual capital and provide an environment for businesses to prosper," said Gordon M. Nixon, President and CEO, RBC Financial Group. "The Centre for Entrepreneurship and Family Enterprise is positioned to do exactly this."

During his visit to Edmonton, Mr. Nixon also called on Canada's politicians, business leaders, labour leaders, and academics to work together to address the challenges of an increasingly competitive world marked by rapid advances in science, technology and other knowledge-based industries.

In a speech at the Alberta School of Business's 2004 Princeton Developments Distinguished Lecture in Finance, Mr. Nixon said that science and technology is driving global economies as never before, and Canada will need to support and encourage greater innovation and entrepreneurship if we are to remain competitive.

RBC's donation to the University of Alberta is part of a series of recent initiatives announced by RBC in 2004 to foster Canada's competitiveness and economic prosperity.

• November 2004. RBC became a sponsor of Manufacturing 20/20, in partnership with Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters (CME). This project will provide an unparalleled consultation with Canadian manufacturers about the direction the industry is headed and what must be done to ensure its future competitive success.
  
  
• October 2004. RBC released an economics report showing that Canada is heading towards an era of unparalleled diversity that will transform the face of this country's small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
  
  
• October 2004. RBC Foundation announced a $600,000 endowment towards the RBC Professorship in Technology and Innovation at Simon Fraser University, to support specialized research and educational initiatives. Dean Ernie Love will hold the first professorship, and his work will focus on best practices for deploying and managing innovation in emerging technologies.
  
  
• June 2004. RBC donated $500,000 for the new RBC Centre for Risk Management at Dalhousie University, to advance knowledge in managing risk in complex and uncertain times.
  
  
• April 2004. RBC donated $750,000 to the University of Ottawa for a professorship on the commercialization of science- and technology-based innovation.
  
  
• October 2003. RBC pledged $850,000 to the University of Quebec at Montreal to create a chair on Management of Financial Services.
  
  
• April 2003. RBC produced "Managing for Growth" in partnership with the Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters Association, and Queen's School of Business, to look at ways to help Canadian entrepreneurs build more successful businesses. The study focused on the management skills needed by entrepreneurs to take their firms to the next level - with particular emphasis on evolving SMEs who may need access to higher-risk debt or venture capital.
  
  
• March 2002 (pdf). RBC produced "Path to Prosperity" in partnership with Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters and the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, looking into the barriers to growth for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Canada and the United States.

	RBC's support for Education
	RBC's support for Economic Development

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