A new website called Enterprise Canada Network (ECN) is about to make the life of small- to medium-sized companies (SMEs) looking for an easy way to get new contracts abroad a whole lot easier.

The website works by matching profiles of selling companies (who post what kind of services and products they have expertise) and buying companies (who post what kind of services and products they are looking for).

There are currently more than 30,000 opportunity profiles posted through the European Commission’s Enterprise Europe Network, which the ECN links to.

The matching process reduces wasted effort and increases the chances of a sales-ready lead.

The website is a joint venture between Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters (CME) and Export Development Canada (EDC). The design of the website is geared towards the needs of Canadian SMEs, whose main challenges are the time to develop opportunities and not knowing where to look for them.

CME and EDC agree there is a need to better support and promote Canada's SMEs to strategically capitalize on major trade agreements with the European Union and South Korea.

“Very simply, we all need to do a better job of giving small Canadian companies the right tools to grow their businesses internationally,” said Benoit Daignault, President and CEO of EDC. “The ECN is a good example of real-world value for Canadian companies, making it very easy to help Canadian SMEs find buyers and opportunities suited to their specific interests and abilities.”

ECN also provides users with several convenient tools that allow them to easily find all publicly funded trade support and promotion programs from across Canada.

"Canadian SMEs possess some of the most promising technologies in the world, yet not nearly enough of them are able to find global partners to catapult such technologies into marketable products and services,” said CME's President and CEO Jayson Myers. “The ECN was designed to help address this issue in high value, but low cost way.”

CME and EDC are working in tandem with other organizations who share a similar vision of helping Canadian SMEs go global, including the Trade Commissioner Service, WBE Canada, Biotech Canada, ReMAP, Mitacs and Emily Carr University of Art + Design.