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HomeMy WebLinkAboutEconDevAdv 2012-09-26 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES September 26, 2012 City of Kitchener The Economic Development Advisory Committee met this date, chaired by Jeremy Auger, the following members were in attendance: Councillors Bil Ionnidias, Paul Singh and Scott Davey, Brian Bennett, Glenn Kohler, Rebecca Short, Peter Benninger, Darren Snider, Adrian Conrad, Mark Bingeman, Steven Voll, Shawn DeBruyn, Steve Sachs, Peter Benninger, Lisa Polonoski, Ashley Reid The following people sent their regrets: Amr Kebhi, Ian Cook The following people were absent: Dr. Takhar Staff in attendance: Rod Regier, Janette MacDonald, Valerie Machado, Chris Farrell, Silvia Di Donato, Tracey DeVille Project Updates: The project update was handed out and reviewed by Rod Regier. manufacturing employment in waterloo region is actually up city centre site plan has been received congrats to desire2learn for their 80m funding New Business: 1. Environmental Cluster Corporate Consultation Review Janette MacDonald provided an overview of the corporate consultation process. The Committee provided the following feedback:  Good direction and good news, with the university we have a world class environmental faculty and they will be a key driving force in attracting.  What can the city really provide - we can be supportive and nurturing of the industry, if our intention is to attract more then it will be the attraction from outside markets. We need to focus on the stimulus factor - that is going to be the driving force for employment through renewal energy  Experience between the workers and the gap in the training have they seen an increase of people entering this field so the gap will close - impression is that it was easier to get new hires but not the experienced. it is easy to get new grads, but you have to invest in those people but they are looking for the ones that have the experience  We can help them grow globally from here - whether that is data centres or technologies.  There are a number of other clusters where we would want to talk about becoming global - this is not the only one - if there was a system to expand then it would allow for these clusters to grow and expand.  Regulations on the businesses reporting that were difficult - the environmental protection act was put in place a while back in 2009 amendments were announced that would take place in 2011 in relation to Brownfields and that would change the levels permitted  The city is not in a financial position to offer incentives that are costly - there things we can do but should look at revenue creators that are long term 2. Siggraph Report Rod Regier provided an overview of the Siggraph Conference, which consists of approximately 20,000 people attend, where computer graphics meets art. Christie Digital has a major presence at the conference. He advised there were three components to the conference - business development meetings set up with consultants in LA, met with companies that were interested in partnership development with the Hub and outsourcing contract work - most are overrun by the amount of work in the industry. We were promoting / supporting Communtiech on this being a great place to work and live. The third explore opportunities related to innovation, meeting with other companies that were pursuing growth opportunities. There are a lot of potential business relationships with California and this region - we need to figure out how we capture this and how we leverage that what kind of resources we need to apply to take advantage of these opportunities.  Can these opportunities be excelled by sister cities - where we build a partnership with a municipality in California with a similar framework as ours? Staff advised that was an interesting concept and there may be a place for this approach  Could we lure people here that are already trained in the leading edge technology to come to the place where it is created and manufactured  How do we bring what we have here to LA  We have a very vibrant urban city compared to LA 3. Music Cluster Update Silvia DiDonato provided an overview of the music cluster strategy session, including history and some highlights of things that have been done in the region. She advised the next steps include the study, which is underway and will be released soon, we have had our first ever Koiplay event, developed music cluster working group, networking events, TEDx waterloo music curator. On motion, the meeting adjourned at 6:00 p.m.