HomeMy WebLinkAboutEDAC - 2024-11-27 KiTCHENER
Economic Development Advisory Committee
Committee Minutes
November 27, 2024, 11:00 a.m.
Innovation Arena, Mike Stork Room
Present: Councillor D. Schnider, Member
Councillor A. Owodunni, Member
Margaret Johnston
Chuck Howitt, Chair
M. Lam, Member
M. Krushack, Member
P. Kreutner, Member
J. Curto, Member
M. Bingeman, Member
Sarah Farwell
Carla Girolametto
Moazam Khan
A. Akbar, Member
Staff: Cory Bluhm
Brian Bennett
N. Nandakumar, Committee Administrator
Aura Hertzog
Kristy Skelton
Lidia Feraco
Jennifer Sandoval Penilla
Naudia Banton
1. Commencement
The meeting commenced at 11 :10 a.m. Chaired by Chuck Howitt
2. Disclosure of Pecuniary Interest and the General Nature Thereof
None
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3. Delegations
None
4. Discussion Items
4.1 Innovation Arena Tour
Brian Bennett, Manager of Business Development, City of Kitchener provided an
introduction about Velocity and Health Innovation Arena (HIA) to the committee
members.
He explained that the Innovation Arena is a collaboration space launched by the
University of Waterloo and will serve as the home for Velocity, the University's
flagship startup incubator.
The committee members were taken on a guided tour of the Innovation Area by
Moazam Khan, Director-Health of Velocity, who highlighted its layout and
purpose.
He shared the following key points with the members:
• Key Area of Focus : Health Innovation
• Velocity is a state-of-the-art facility with the largest concentration of health
innovations in Canada.
• Velocity also works in collaboration with existing hubs like Medical
Innovation Xchange (MIX).
• Velocity offers product development labs, collaborative workspaces,
manufacturing equipment available for turning prototypes into products.
4.2 Lunch
4.3 Building the Future of Care Together
Grand River Hospital and St. Mary's General Hospital announced in April 2024
their plan to merge into a single hospital organization. Sarah Farwell and Carla
Girolametto from St. Mary's General Hospital and Grand River Hospital
presented to the members "Building the Future of Care Together" which is a
joint project to build new a hospital infrastructure in Kitchener-Waterloo.
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They shared the following key points with the committee members:
• Project Timeline -
0 2020-2021 : Planning and consultations began for new and renewed
infrastructure.
0 2022 : Launched and Ontario Ministry of Health approved the $5M
Capital Planning Grant
o Spring — Summer 2024 : New Site announced at David Johnston
Research + Technology Park on the University's North Campus
o Fall 2024 : Functional Programming, Branding and web redevelopment
kicks off
o April 2025 : Proposed Day 1: New, single Hospital organization
0 2025+ : Ongoing merger and redevelopment work
• They talked about Care Next Coalition - the new initiative with Grand
River Hospital, St. Mary's General Hospital and the University of Waterloo.
• This new partnership aims to Foster growth of health innovation through
Ideation, Experimentation, Scaling and Research (related to innovation)
• Care NEXT would be carried out in 3 Phases beginning with recruiting a
joint vice-president and chief health innovation officer.
• This new partnership will help align the efforts of the Hospitals and the
University to support research and improve focus on modern technologies
and innovation.
5. Adjournment
On motion, this meeting adjourned at 1:02 p.m.
Navitha Nandakumar
Committee Administrator
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