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HomeMy WebLinkAboutEcon Dev Adv - 2007-09-26 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES September 26, 2007 City of Kitchener The Economic Development Advisory Committee met this date, chaired by Adrian Conrad; the following members were in attendance: Councillor Christina Weylie, Jeremy Auger, Mark Collins, Steven Voll, Don Zehr, Glen Woolner, Councillor John Smola, Howie Budd, Peter Benninger, Lawrence Bingeman, Ian Cook, Paul Singh, Bob Denton, Sheryl Petricevic, Dan Piedra, Len Carter The following people sent their regrets: Willy Heffner, Gerry Remers The following people were absent: Nil Staff in attendance: Rod Regier, Kathy Weiss, Janette MacDonald, Valerie Bradford, Kathy Weiss, 1. Discussion Items 1.1 Procedure, Protocol, Policy Rod Regier provided the Committee with a memo outlining the procedures and protocol for recording of minutes and advised the committee of the legislated requirements. Discussion on clarification of the comment recording took place. An assumption of the comments will not be made unless there is a resolution to support that. Presentations will not be recorded again; the focus of the Committee is at a strategic level. Further discussion on sensitive site specific issues that have been brought forward to the Committee took place. The Committee generally felt that each situation would be looked at on case by case bases to determine if the mandate of the Committee fits the delegation request. A motion was put forward to approve the outstanding minutes from April, May, June and August. On motion by Glen Woolner, seconded by Peter Benninger the minutes of April 2007 were approved. On motion by Peter Benninger, seconded by Lawrence Bingeman the minutes of May 2007 were approved. On motion by Glen Woolner, seconded by Paul Singh the minutes of June 2007 were approved. On motion by Peter Benninger, seconded by Glen Woolner, the minutes of August 2007 were approved. Corporate Visitation 1.2 Valerie Bradford provided a brief update on the Corporate Visitation. ? 11 people trained and doing visits both staff and EDAC members ? 4 visits per day on average ? 100 visits to be completed by the end of November ? Feedback so far has included issues such as lack of skilled labour and the Canadian dollar; however, it has been mostly positive She thanked everyone that has helped. And advised updates will be provided as we go along. Rod Regier asked for more volunteers and the following advised they could make themselves available: Paul Singh, Bob Denton, Sheryl Petricevic, Adrian Conrad If anyone has feedback on the questionnaire on what is working and what is not please send to Janette MacDonald or Valerie Bradford. If there are other conversations or other pieces that you feel are important, than please include that, if you don’t write it down we won’t know about it. Call or email Ms. MacDonald with any other comments. 1.3 Manufacturing Innovation Network (MIN) Rod Regier spoke on the Manufacturing Innovation Network (MIN) and provided background information of what it is, who they are planning on working with and how they propose to help. MIN is looking to develop a platform that would allow companies and individuals to find resources, to find local suppliers, tech resources to solve problems more quickly, for example. There is a lot of support from the network of stakeholders that we are working with now, and we are hoping to start a pilot project at the regional level in the New Year. 1.4 2007 Calendar Discussion took place on what to expect for the remainder of the year. ? Streetscape design will be presented in October. ? Fashion / Dinning – early in the new year ? Arts & Culture Cluster Strategy – Rod Regier to follow up and let the committee know ? Digital Media Cluster – Communitech submitted a letter of intent for funding in digital media and the business incubation function of the digital media centre – they have been invited to provide a formal application process, they are one of 24 applicants. The University of Waterloo (School of Pharmacy), Christie Digital and the City have been meeting to discuss the digital media/bio tech space. Hopefully there will be some news within the next couple of months to report. ? Centre Block – December Meeting adjourned at 1:00 pm.