Cole Webber during a pre-pandemic speaking engagement. (Supplied)

By Sheldon Spackman

Innovative Solutions

Red Deer businessman receives $1 million federal grant to help address COVID supply chain issues

Jun 7, 2021 | 2:12 PM

A young Red Deer man has received a $1 million grant from the federal government to help in the fight against COVID-19.

Cole Webber, 22, and his company, Betterfit, is one of eight small and medium-sized businesses across Canada that recently received funding for projects aimed at supporting a resilient economy and helping to finish the fight against coronavirus.

On May 26, François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, announced the selection of eight companies that would receive a total of $8 million in funding, under the Innovative Solutions Canada program, for innovative projects to address challenges related to COVID-19.

Betterfit received its grant in response to the COVID-19: An Intelligent Digital Clearing House challenge.

Government officials say the goal is to create a smart digital exchange platform to connect researchers and health providers with the appropriate expertise, materials, devices and information needed to respond to the pandemic.

mayor hopes to meet housing minister this month

Alberta demands Ottawa back off on housing funding stripped from Red Deer

Apr 02, 2026

Last seen Jan. 15

Missing: Courtney Cattleman, 17, of Maskwacis

Apr 02, 2026

eyes up

Air Spray training around Red Deer Regional Airport

Apr 02, 2026

Webber says he was ecstatic upon hearing the news of receiving the grant.

“I’m really glad that the government is looking at fixing some of these challenges,” says Webber. “It was to create a digital clearing house, so figuring out both information flows better and the flows of products and things, particularly PPE… help fix some of those supply chain issues that we’re seeing. As well as some issues with modelling and can we get that to be more accurate or more robust for future emergencies and things of this nature.”

Optimizing the supply chain for the delivery of PPE in Alberta and other parts of Canada is the main focus, according to Webber, who expects to fully launch in August..

“The idea is to help move these products of PPE and different medical supplies, drugs and pharmaceuticals. The mechanism by which we’re kind of optimizing that is prioritizing which locations need them, and adaptively live-quoting what a supplier has in inventory, how much overhead it’s going to involve to fulfill a certain order, and using that to match them, just to one-point.”

He notes that bringing the cost of distribution down significantly is another goal of his company’s initiative, so local manufacturers can compete on price point with PPE that’s made in places like China, for example.

“We’re focusing on stuff that’s manufactured within North America and our suppliers range from local to larger suppliers as well,” he points out.

Following the end of the pandemic and completion of Betterfit’s initiative, Webber anticipates targeting the construction industry next.

“There’s a lot of big contractor organizations that have the same problems that maybe just aren’t as visible to consumers. You’ve got big companies that run multiple construction sites and they buy steel or piping or whatever in bulk and it ends up sitting in a field rusting or something. But we’re looking at lots of different supply chain areas,” he shares.

“To me, and I think the goal of this program is not just solving issues from the pandemic, but being more prepared for other events that come up, whether they’re health related or otherwise and building more resilient, robust supply chains. That’s something that’s really exciting to be able to work on.”