SOCO AMONG CANADA'S TOP 20 SMALL & MEDIUM EMPLOYERS

Released on April 12, 2006

Minister responsible for the Saskatchewan Opportunities Corporation (SOCO) Eric Cline announced today that SOCO has been named one of Canada's Top 20 Best Small & Medium Employers by Queen's University School of Business. This honour recognizes outstanding Canadian employers that have employees reporting superior levels of engagement in their workplace job duties, relative to the other organizations surveyed. 'Engagement' is a measure of interest and commitment to the organization's success.

"This award is truly an honour; it recognizes the dedication and commitment of the employees at Innovation Place and the Regina Research Park, and I would like to congratulate them on achieving this prestigious designation," Cline said.

SOCO, operating as Innovation Place, is the organization responsible for managing the province's research parks located in Saskatoon and Regina as well as the Saskatchewan Forest Centre building in Prince Albert.

"There is nothing more a company can ask of its employees than to be committed to performing their best," Innovation Place President and CEO Doug Tastad said. "To be recognized as an organization where the vast majority of staff are fully engaged in their work, proud of the difference they make and supportive of the company's mission is truly rewarding."

This is the second year of the Best Small-Medium Employers (BSME) in Canada study, supplementing the prestigious Globe and Mail ROB Magazine Best 50 (larger) Employers study, now entering its eighth year. A hallmark of these studies is the fact that the results are based on the opinions of the "ultimate experts" in employer quality, namely employees themselves. The databank, of which SOCO is a part, contains information about the perceptions of more than 200,000 employees from over 300 organizations representing more than three dozen sectors of Canadian business, industry and government.

The list of BSME employers is compiled by the Queen's University School of Business (Queen's Centre for Business Venturing) based on methodology developed with Hewitt Associates, the world's largest human resources outsourcing and consulting firm. For this year, more than 100 small and medium employers registered to participate, of which 80, including SOCO, ultimately qualified to compete for Best Employer status. The top 20 employers of choice who made the list will be profiled in the Globe and Mail's Report on (Small) Business Magazine on April 12th, 2006.

About Innovation Place

Innovation Place employs 90 people and operates 1.4 million square feet of facilities that support organizations in the advanced technology sector. Innovation Place has 175 clients in Saskatoon, Regina and Prince Albert; those clients contribute over $527 million to the provincial economy and employ 3,200 people.

-30-

For More Information, Contact:

Austin Beggs Saskatchewan Opportunities Corporation Saskatoon Phone: (306) 933-7464 Cell: (306) 227-1636

Sandra Olszowka Queen's Centre for Business Ottawa Phone: (613) 533-3119