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HomeMy WebLinkAboutDSD-2024-145 - Communitech Partnership Development Services Department www.kitchener.ca REPORT TO: Finance and Corporate Services Committee DATE OF MEETING: April 22, 2024 SUBMITTED BY: Cory Bluhm, Executive Director Economic Development 519-741-2200 ext 7065 PREPARED BY: Brian Bennett, Manager Business Development, 519-741-2200 ext. 7230 WARD(S) INVOLVED: Ward(s) All DATE OF REPORT: April 11, 2024 REPORT NO.: DSD-2024-145 SUBJECT: Communitech Partnership RECOMMENDATION: That the Mayor and Clerk be authorized to execute a Partnership Agreement with Communitech as outlined in DSD-2024-145, subject to review by the City Solicitor; and, That $500,000 from the Economic Development Investment Fund 2.0 be allocated in each of the 2024 and 2025 budget years to Communitech for programming outlined in report DSD-2024-145; and further, That the General Manager of Development Services be authorized to extend funding to Communitech for each of the 2026 and 2027 budget years, subject to the following: i) the availability of funding within the Economic Development Investment Fund 2.0, as outlined in report DSD-2024-145; ii) -2024-145; and, iii) n report DSD-2024-145 remain relevant. REPORT HIGHLIGHTS: The purpose of this report is Communitech from 2024 up to 2027. The key finding of this report is that there is a need to supercharge the local startup ecosystem, with a particular focus on Downtown Kitchener, and Communitech is a key partner to deliver supports to startups and scaling companies. *** This information is available in accessible formats upon request. *** Please call 519-741-2345 or TTY 1-866-969-9994 for assistance. The financial implications are a $500,000 investment in each of the 2024 and 2025 budget years. A further $500,000 investment in each of the 2026 and 2027 budget years coming from the Economic Development Investment Fund 2.0 subject to the stipulations outlined in DSD-2024-145. Community engagement included this report being agenda in advance of the committee meeting. Communitech member organizations were interviewed as part of the proposed startup strategic alignment. This report supports Creating an Economically-Thriving City Together: Focuses on growing an agile, diverse local economy powered by talented entrepreneurs, workers & artists; creating opportunities for everyone and a resilient future that propels our city forward. BACKGROUND: The City of Kitchener has had a long-standing partnership with Communitech since its inception in 1997. In 2010, the City invested $500K in the Communitech Hub to assist with its relocation to the Tannery located at 151 Charles St W, Kitchener. In 2016, the City invested $1.5M in Communitech to assist with their expansion, leasehold improvements and expanded programing. This investment enabled Communitech to significantly increase their economic impact based on a study completed by Deloitte. In 2021, the City invested $1.5M over 3 years to support growth in the founder, startup and scaleup sector due to the adverse impact the pandemic had across the business and technology sector. Communitech has 1000+ members and operates the Communitech Hub where tech startups and scaleups are incubated, corporate innovation labs are located and coworking space is available for lease. The City of Kitchener has an Innovation Lab in the Hub, with a focus on solving municipal problems. Communitech helps anchor the Toronto-Waterloo thth Region corridor, the 18 largest tech ecosystem in the world in 2023, improving from 24 in 2022 according to CBRE. In addition to the Hub, Communitech supports the following initiatives: CANHealth Network: Coordinated Accessible National Health Network provides Canadian Health innovation companies with an integrated marketplace by removing common access barriers that prevent business from growing and scaling to their full potential and procurement. ElevateIP: Nationwide project to assist business accelerators and incubators to support startups in strategically managing and leveraging their intellectual property, with $38M provided through Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada. Business and Economic Support Team Waterloo Region: Communitech is an active participant of this initiative formed during the pandemic to support businesses. REPORT: Since 2010, Communitech has been a key partner in the transformation of Downtown Kitchener (and the broader community) into a globally relevant startup and tech ecosystem. However, the COVID-19 pandemic caused significant shifts to this ecosystem: Startup services (training, mentorship, etc.) were forced to transition from in- person to virtual platforms; A change to in-person office behaviours away from collaborative co-working environments to work-from-home offices; and, Major office-based companies opting for completely remote, hybrid or reduced footprint workspaces. As a result, Downtown Kitchener has experienced significant negative impacts, including the following: Fewer startups operating in-person at the Communitech Hub, resulting in fewer collisions, networking and community building; The traditional funnel of companies graduating from the Hub and locating in office space in Downtown Kitchener has diminished; Major office companies wanting to locate downtown to be close to talent/emerging startups has diminished significantly; and, An overall loss of startup at was prevalent prior to the pandemic. This has contributed to a 27% office vacancy in Downtown Kitchener, one of the highest of any urban area in Canada. As such, staff are proposing a partnership with Communitech to with a focus on local, in-person programming. Proposed Partnership (Investment funding shown is annual) To enhance the startup pipeline, Communitech would deliver the following programming, on-site at the Hub annually, which requires an annual investment from the City of $500,000: 1) Supporting Founders exploring entrepreneurship ($200,000) Activities will include: Create and execute a combination of community outreach and a series of discovery and validation stage programs for early-stage tech startups; and, Incubate 450 new startups annually, with the number of new startup companies to be reported quarterly and annually. 2) Discovery Stage Bootcamp and Community events ($40,000) Activities will include: Support 30-50 companies per year, with the bootcamp 8 weeks in length to refine ideas and identify potential markets; Dedicated cohort space; and, Four quarterly community events targeted at groups/individuals that are exploring entrepreneurship. 3) Validation Stage Bootcamp ($20,000) Activities will include: Support 20 companies to move from discovery to early validation. 4) Startup Intensive Track ($20,000) Activities will include: Support 5 late-stage startups/scaleups that are in early revenue generation and validation stages. 5) Communitech Founder Showcase Event ($20,000) Activities will include: Compliment the Communitech Annual Meeting, enabling bootcamp participants to showcase their companies through demonstrations and displays. 6) Fierce Founders ($200,000) Activities will include: Support underrepresented groups to establish and grow their ventures; Support 30 Fierce Founders annually through the Fierce Founders Bootcamp, Uplift and Intensive Track Programs; Support 10-15 companies per year focused on pre-validation, idea refinement and identifying potential markets; 7-month program to support 10 companies with each receiving $10,000 in non repayable funding focussed on market sizing and go to market strategies; Expand leadership and business skills through one-on-one coaching; and, 9-12 month program for 10 companies focused on finding product market fit, growing revenue and investment attraction. 7) MedTech Innovation (no additional investment required by the City) Activities will include: Develop the MedTech ecosystem programming, validation, IP protection, financial literacy, commercialization support and investment attraction; and, Host an Annual CEO dinner. 8) Communitech Peer2Peer (no additional investment required by the City) Communitech will create connections between member companies by expanding their Peer2Peer networks through sessions and events. 9) Make It Kitchener Coworking Area & Recognition (no additional investment required by the City) Communitech will establish a coworking area within the Hub, branded Make It Kitchener, providing free workspace for Founders of many of the above noted programs. For each of the programs listed above, Communitech will ensure Founders Reporting Communitech will provide the City of Kitchener with quarterly reporting on the objectives of each program and provide the City with a summary annual report. Funding: Not unlike the Waterloo Region Small Business Centre, Communitech is a program delivery organization. It can only deliver programs based on the funding it receives and generates. In order to deliver the scale of programming proposed above, the City would need to contribute $500,000 annually. Communitech receives funding from both Fedev Ontario (Federal) and the Provincial Government, which is nitial investment. Communitech receives membership fees from its 1,000+ members. Pre-pandemic, more than 50% through the private sector with government funding providing the balance. The current ratio is 43% private sector and 57% government. Communitech plans to restore private sector funding in excess of 50%. Deloitte is currently preparing a new economic impact for fiscal 2024 which concludes with Business Case: The business case in Attachment A outlines the rationale for continued support of Communitech. Term: To maximize impact, Communitech has identified the need to deliver the above listed programming over a 4-year period. Staff recommend committing to a 2-year initial term with conditions for extension by up to two years, based on two primary considerations 1) the availability of funding, and 2) the uncertainty of the changing office market. As such, staff propose that funding be committed for 2024 and 2025. Funding for 2026 and 2027 would be subject to the following conditions: Land sale revenues having been added to t Investment Fund 2.0 (EDIF 2.0); Communitech achieving the objectives and milestones contained in the partnership agreement; and, City staff determining that the needs and justification articulated in the attached business case remain relevant. Should this approach be acceptable to Council, the decision to extend the term of the agreement would be delegated to staff based on the above conditions. STRATEGIC PLAN ALIGNMENT: This report supports Creating an Economically-Thriving City Together: Focuses on growing an agile, diverse local economy powered by talented entrepreneurs, workers & artists; creating opportunities for everyone and a resilient future that propels our city forward. FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS: Through Make It Kitchener 2.0, Council identified the intent to invest up to $7.5 million ty-The proposed partnership would see the annual contribution of $500,000 allocated from this Area of Focus (up to $2 million in total). EDIF 2.0 contains 3 revenue sources reserves, debt and land sales. As the City would not retain any capital asset through this partnership, debt funding is not eligible. As such, staff propose funding the initial 2 years through the reserve revenue. As there is limited reserve funding remaining, staff recommend years 3 and 4 be funded from future land sale revenues, provided said revenues have been achieved. COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT: INFORM the council / committee meeting. CONSULT Communitech member organizations were interviewed as part of the proposed startup strategic alignment. PREVIOUS REPORTS/AUTHORITIES: DSD-2021-Economic Recovery Framework CAO-16-008 Communitech Expansion APPROVED BY: Dan Chapman, CAO ATTACHMENTS: Attachment A Communitech Business Case COMMUNITECH PARTNERSHIP OPPORTUNITY BUSINESS CASE COMMUNITECH & CITY OF KITCHENER PARTNERSHIP OPPORTUNITY ЉЍΉЉЍΉЋЉЋЍ COMMUNITECH PARTNERSHIP OPPORTUNITY TABLE OF CONTENTS Executive Summary .... 2 Background The Challenges.... 3 Vision .... 6 Opportunity Business Case 8 Investment 10 Conclusions & Recommendations 11 COMMUNITECH PARTNERSHIP OPPORTUNITY 2 FYFDVUJWF!TVNNBSZ! office market has been significantly impacted as a result of the COVID- 19 pandemic. A shift to hybrid work settings and the virtual delivery of start-up services has led to a significant increase in the office vacancy rate. Despite the local impacts, Ontarioinnovation technology sector remains strong, generating $48.3 billion dollars of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2023 (representing 6.03% of 1 total GDP). The innovation technology sector grew 22.4% between fiscal years 2021 and 2023 employing more than 404,000 workers, Ontario has the second largest concentrated IT cluster in North America. The City of Kitchener has had a long-standing partnership with Communitech since its inception. Communitech has played an integral role in the resurgence of Downtown Kitchener. With the 2021 partnership agreement expired, the City and Communitech have engaged in discussions to define a new partnership to recharge the start-up ecosystem in Downtown Kitchener by supporting start-up and scale-up technology businesses directly in the core. The proposed partnership would see Communitech deliver on-site programming for up to four (4) years from 2024 to 2027. The City of Kitchener would contribute $500,000 annually for fiscal years 2024 and 2025 funded by the EDIF 2.0 reserve fund. The City would reserve the right to extend the partnership agreement for $500,000 annually for fiscal years 2026 and 2027. By investing in the new partnership with Communitech, the City of Kitchener should realize the following economic impacts: Enhance the start-up/scale-up business pipeline; Attract Communitech graduates to locate in the City of Kitchener, specifically Downtown; Creation of innovation employment; Support the acquisition of start-up/scale-up business capital; and Generate new office space tenants for Downtown Kitchener. 1 Source: Invest Ontario IT Industry Profile, last modified January 22, 2024 COMMUNITECH PARTNERSHIP OPPORTUNITY 3 CBDLHSPVOE!!UIF!DIBMMFOHFT! In 2003, the City introduced the Economic Development Investment Fund (EDIF 1.0) with two clear objectives to build a knowledge economy and to revitalize Downtown Kitchener. Since 2010, Communitech has been a key partner in the transformation of Downtown Kitchener (and the broader community) into a globally relevant startup and tech ecosystem. With the onset of the COVID pandemic (2020 2023), Communitech made a business decision to pivot their program and service delivery model from on-site at the Hub to remote/hybrid. The transition of the service delivery model significantly reduced the presence of on-site incubation of start-up businesses and reduced in-person program delivery. While Communitech continued to demonstrate a significant impact in the innovation sector, the economic benefits to Kitchener were impacted. In particular: What had predominantly been a place-based start-up ecosystem, centred at the Communitech Hub, shifted to a virtual ecosystem with less gravitational pull to co-working environments; and, offer and sustain in-person interactions through networking, events, collaborations and casual collisions, etc. IMPACTS TO DOWNTOWN KITCHENER office market was a direct beneficiary of the work of Communitech and other similar organizations since 2010. Startup companies graduating from the Communitech Hub would often take up space in nearby office buildings. As some companies became more successful, they would often expand their footprint or move to new or multiple locations. In several instances, this resulted in underutilized buildings being adaptively repurposed for office space. As a result of the global shift to hybrid work, spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic, Downtown Many companies have abandoned their office spaces entirely in favour of a remote workforce, others have scaled their footprint back in favour of a hybrid workforce, while some have retained their workspace but decreased the number of employees who are present each day. Compounding these challenges, very little absorption (new office companies locating in the core) has occurred in the past 2 years. COMMUNITECH PARTNERSHIP OPPORTUNITY 4 Downtown Kitchener Office Space Statistics, Q4 2023 (Colliers) Class # of Bldgs. Total Total Vacant Vacancy Rate Net Inventory Space Absorption A 12 1,305,351 309,196 23.6% 40,695 B 19 1,681,081 580,051 34.5% -36,567 C 12 489,365 69,492 14.2% -10,253 All 43 3,479,997 958,739 27.5% -6,105 Most scaling companies from the Communitech Hub would gravitate to Class C space as the lease rates are more affordable for new companies. The lack of office workers has contributed to an overall decrease in commercial foot-traffic during regular working hours. A University of Toronto study is monitoring activity levels (via mobile phone data) of numerous downtowns across North America. In the summer of 2021, cities had seen activity levels as low as 33% of pre-pandemic levels. Most recently, the following activity levels were reported from the Spring of 2023: Downtown % of Pedestrian Activity Compared to 2019 Ottawa, ON 82% Toronto, ON 70% London, ON 79% Source: University of Toronto, School of Cities, Downtown Recovery Rankings (2023) current numbers would be similar to those shown in the chart above. MAKE IT KITCHENER 2.0 Make It Kitchener 2.0 identifies innovation technology as a key area of focus for economic growth. It identifies an ambition to collaborate with industry and educational partners to become a global leader in innovation technology. The strategy -w investment. This would result in the creation and support of spaces and programs that enable entrepreneurs to start, lead and scale-up innovative technology businesses while remaining in the Region. With the new Health Innovation Arena focusing on health and med-tech based companies, the SDG Idea Factory focusing on social innovation, and 44 Gaukel focusing on creative-based entrepreneurs, the Communitech Hub remains a key nexus to continue to grow tech-based startups. COMMUNITECH PARTNERSHIP OPPORTUNITY 5 COMMUNITECH Launched in 1997 by a group of innovation founders, Communitech is a non-profit public-private innovation hub located in Downtown Kitchener that supports a community of more than 1,000+ innovation technology companies. Communitech provides access to talent, capital, incubation space, mentorship and programming, with supports that innovation entrepreneurs require for commercialization and success. Communitech technology programming has generated the following results in 2023: Served over 550 companies at various stages of development; Supported the creation of 325 start-up companies; Assisted local innovation technology companies raise $400 million dollars in capital; and, Recruited and filled over fifteen hundred (1,500) new full-time and part-time employment positions. As a service-delivery organization, Communitech is dependent on public/private funding to deliver core services to founders. With shifts in federal and provincial funding priorities, Communitech has seen a decrease in total funding from $32 million to $25 million over a three (3) year period, 2021-2023. Private sector funding represented 43% of funding in Fiscal 2023, public sector funding 57% of revenue. Without additional funding, Communitech will be unable to deliver the core startup services that were critical to expanding the ecosystem locally. COMMUNITECH PARTNERSHIP OPPORTUNITY 6 WJTJPO! The City of Kitchener and Communitech are committed to forming a new partnership that will support the delivery of onsite support programming for start-up and scale-up technology businesses. The new partnership will grow the start-up business pipeline, attract Communitech graduates to locate in Kitchener, spur innovation employment and increase the demand for office space in Downtown Kitchener. As part of the new partnership, Communitech would deliver the following on-site programming and achieve the identified performance benchmarks: Supporting Founders Exploring Entrepreneurship: Create and execute a combination of community outreach, a series of discovery and validation stage programs for early-stage tech start-ups. Support the creation of 425 new start-up companies annually. Discovery Stage Bootcamp and Community Events: Support 30-50 companies per year, with a bootcamp eight (8) weeks in length to refine ideas and identify potential markets. Four (4) quarterly community events targeted at individuals and groups that are exploring entrepreneurship. Validation Stage Bootcamp: Support twenty (20) companies to move from discovery to early validation. Start-up Intensive Track: Support 5-8 late-stage start-ups and/or scale-ups that are in early revenue generation and validation. Communitech Founders Showcase Event: Compliment the Communitech Annual Meeting by enabling bootcamp participants to showcase their companies through demonstrations and displays. Communitech Peer2Peer Program: Facilitates a minimum of ten (10) Peer2Peer groups annually. Fierce Founders: Full-time project manager to support female identifying and underrepresented founders to establish and grow their ventures. Fierce Founders Bootcamp: Host a bootcamp(s) to support 10-15 companies per year focused on pre-validation, idea refinement and identifying potential markets. COMMUNITECH PARTNERSHIP OPPORTUNITY 7 Fierce Founders Uplift: Deliver a 7-month program to support ten (10) companies with each receiving $10,000 in non-repayable funding focused on market sizing and go-to-market strategies. Expand leadership and business skills through one-on-one coaching. Fierce Founders Intensive Track: Deliver a 9-12 month program for ten (10) companies. Focus on finding product market fit, growing revenue and investment attraction. Medtech Innovation: Support founders with validation, IP protection, financial literacy, commercialization, and investment attraction. Host an annual CEO dinner event; Make It Kitchener Coworking Area & Recognition: Communitech would establish a coworking area within the Hub, branded Make It Kitchener, providing free workspace for Founders of many of the above noted programs. For each of the programs listed above, Communitech will ensure Founders and By providing a volume and diversity of start-up focused programming at the Communitech Hub provides the best opportunity to re-within the startup and tech community and the flow of prospective companies into downtown Kitchener office space. COMMUNITECH PARTNERSHIP OPPORTUNITY 8 PQQPSUVOJUZ!!CVTJOFTT!DBTF! Ontarioinnovation technology sector generated $48.3 billion dollars of gross domestic product 2 (GDP) in 2023 (representing 6.03% of total GDP). The innovation technology sector grew 22.4% between fiscal years 2021 and 2023 rate of growth). With 22,000 technology companies employing more than 404,000 workers, Ontario has the second largest concentrated IT cluster in North America. Startup Growth In 2023, Canada recorded over three thousand (3,000) new business start-ups raising $6.3 billion dollars. 44.17% of all Canadian start-up businesses are from the innovation technology sector: 23.63% - technology and telecommunications, 10.27% - pharmaceutical, medical and health, and 10.27% - insurance and financial. The growth of total early-stage start-up business activity in Canada over the past ten years has grown by 66.67%. Tech Growth in Toronto-Waterloo Corridor The Toronto-Waterloo Corridor globally due to an impressive growth of 128 per cent. In 2021, a record $7.7 billion went to startups 3 in Toronto and Waterloo. Critical to the growth of the Corridor is the talent pipeline generated by local educational institutions: Waterloo Region is ranked #1 among small tech talent markets in 4 North America and #4 in North America for tech talent quality. Downtown Office Space Availability The City of Kitchener has a total inventory of 5,730,573 square feet of office space with an overall vacancy rate of 18.1%. downtown office space market has a significantly higher vacancy rate of 27.5% or 958,739 square feet. The net absorption of downtown office space in Kitchener continuing its negative trend: -121,592 square feet of net absorption for 2022 and - 5 6,105 square feet of net absorption for the last quarter of 2023. Situated in the Toronto-Waterloo Corridor, the City of Kitchener has capitalized on the prosperity of the innovation sector by making strategic investments in key local institutions and organizations in the Waterloo Region ecosystem including the following: City of Kitchener invest $1,500,000 over three (3) years in Communitech (2021-2023) City of Kitchener invested $30 million in the UW School of Pharmacy; City of Kitchener invested $500,000 in wet labs at UW Velocity in 2016; 2 Source: Invest Ontario IT Industry Profile, last modified January 22, 2024 3 Source: University of Waterloo Toronto Waterloo Corridor highlighted in 2022 Startup Genome rankings, 06/22 4 Source: Waterloo EDC Tech Feature Article, June 27, 2023 5 Source: Colliers Waterloo Office Market Report COMMUNITECH PARTNERSHIP OPPORTUNITY 9 City of Kitchener invested $8.5 million in the UW Innovation Arena; and, City of Kitchener will invest $450,000 in Collaboration Space (Small Business Centre) in the UW Innovation Arena. OPPORTUNITY FOR THE CITY OF KITCHENER A new partnership agreement presents an opportunity for the City of Kitchener to continue to support a key organization in the regional ecosystem, outlining programming and funding conditions that ensure the City will maximize local economic impacts and create a cooperative business development relationship. The new partnership agreement with Communitech will be built on the following four (4) pillars: 1) Bringing Start-Ups Back To The Communitech Hub Key start-up programming will be delivered on-site at the Communitech Hub including but not limited to Discover/Validation Stage Bootcamps, Start-up Intensive Track and Fierce Founders. The premise is to supercharge the start-up pipeline in Kitchener generating new business development, innovation employment and office space tenants. 2) Support Start-Ups To Locate In The City Of Kitchener Develop a cooperative business development strategy to attract and locate new start-ups businesses graduating from Communitech programs in Downtown Kitchener. 3) A dedicated in-person cohort workspace in the Communitech Hub for founders and start- ups that provides branded presence of the City of Kitchener. 4) Joint Communications Strategy Cooperative communications strategy to market the City of Kitchener to start-up an enhanced start-up pipeline and the Make It Kitchener 2.0 branding. COMMUNITECH PARTNERSHIP OPPORTUNITY 10 JOWFTUNFOU! If approved by Kitchener City Council, the City and Communitech would enter into a new partnership agreement to deliver onsite technology support and programming for up to four (4) years from 2024 to 2027. The City of Kitchener would contribute $500,000 annually for fiscal years 2024 and 2025. The City would reserve the right to extend the partnership agreement for fiscal years 2026 and 2027. Funding would be conditional on the successful completion of stipulated programming and the achievement of stated benchmarks (as defined on pages 6 and 7 of this business case) and the availability of funding through EDIF 2.0. Communitech would agree to the following use of City funding: 1) Onsite and in person programming to accelerate the growth of start-up and scale-up technology businesses at the Communitech Hub; 2) Deliver entrepreneurial programming including the attraction and retention of program participants within Kitchener; 3) Deliver programming that supports diversity, equity, and inclusion through the Fierce Founders program; 4) Identify a co-working space within the Communitech Hub for program participants with mutually agreeable City of Kitchener branding; 5) C location in Area 151 for the period of 2024 to 2027, which the City will continue to maintain and operate; 6) Supply the City of Kitchener with quarterly and annual reports of all partnership activities, including stipulated benchmarks; and, 7) Pment under the partnership agreement including digital, social media and promotional platforms. COMMUNITECH PARTNERSHIP OPPORTUNITY 11 DPODMVTJPOT!'!SFDPNNFOEBUJPOT! Based on the including the growth of new startups in Canada, the City of Kitchener is poised benefit through a new partnership agreement with Communitech. Given the current challenges with the Downtown office market, resulting from the shifts to hybrid and remote work arrangements, opportunity exists to drive more localized, in-person startup activity to the core. As evident by the positive impacts new startups had on Downtown Kitchener from 2010 to 2020, a significant increase in in-person startup vacancy rate. The proposed partnership aligns with the City of Kitchener s economic development strategy - Make It Kitchener 2.0. The partnership supports the - and can be accommodated with the funding allocations of the Economic Development Investment Fund 2.0 (EDIF 2.0). In addition, the structure of the new partnership agreement would ensure that the City of Kitchener supports a key organization in the local innovation ecosystem and maximize the local economic benefits of the technology sector including but not limited to: Enhance the start-up/scale-up business pipeline; Creation of innovation employment; Support equity, diversity and inclusion through Fierce Founders Support the acquisition of start-up/scale-up business capital; and Generate new office space tenants for Downtown Kitchener. Based on the foregoing, staff recommend entering into a new partnership agreement with Communitech to deliver onsite technology support and programming for up to four (4) years from 2024 to 2027 based on mutually agreed conditions and benchmarks/milestones and funding availability from EDIF 2.0.