6. BUILDING Ottawa's eCONOMIC
PROSPERITY - a funding request to support ocri initatives Favoriser la prospérité économique
d'Ottawa – demande de financement pour soutenir les initiatives du OCRI |
Committee Recommendation
That Council
approve up to $520,000 in partnership funding to the Ottawa Centre for Research
and Innovation (OCRI) to support the delivery of the following programs:
· Regional Innovation Network (RIN);
· Ontario Research Commercialization Project (ORCP);
· Investment Attraction; and
· Cluster Support.
Recommandation du Comité
Que le Conseil approuve un
cofinancement d’une valeur de 520 000 $ avec le Centre de recherche
et d’innovation d’Ottawa (OCRI) en vue de soutenir la prestation des programmes
suivants :
·
Réseaux
régionaux d’innovation (RRI);
·
Programme
ontarien de commercialisation de la recherche (POCR);
·
Attraction
des investissements; et
·
Soutien
aux grappes.
Documentation
1. Deputy City Manager of Planning, Transit and
the Environment’s report dated 8 May 2008 (ACS2008-PTE-ECO-0015).
2. Extract of Draft Minutes, 20 May 2008.
Corporate Services and
Economic Development Committee
Comité des services organisationnels et du développement économique
and Council/et au Conseil
Submitted by/Soumis par : Nancy Schepers,
Deputy City Manager/Directrice municipale adjointe,
Planning, Transit and the
Environment/Urbanisme, Transport en commun et Environnement
Contact Person/Personne ressource : Rob Mackay, A/Director
Economic
and Environmental Sustainability/Direction de la viabilité économique et de la
durabilité de l’environnement
(613)
580-2424 x 22632, rob.mackay@ottawa.ca
That the Corporate Services and Economic Development Committee
recommend Council approve up to $520,000 in partnership funding to the Ottawa
Centre for Research and Innovation (OCRI) to support the delivery of the following programs:
· Regional Innovation Network (RIN);
· Ontario Research Commercialization Project (ORCP);
· Investment Attraction; and
· Cluster Support.
Que le Comité des
services organisationnels et du développement économique recommande au Conseil
d’approuver un cofinancement d’une valeur de 520 000 $ avec le Centre
de recherche et d’innovation d’Ottawa (OCRI) en vue de soutenir la prestation
des programmes suivants :
·
Réseaux
régionaux d’innovation (RRI);
·
Programme
ontarien de commercialisation de la recherche (POCR);
·
Attraction
des investissements; et
·
Soutien
aux grappes.
The Ottawa Centre for Research and Innovation (OCRI) is a non-profit agency supported by over 650 private sector members along with federal, provincial and municipal funding partners.
OCRI’s activities include the delivery of:
OCRI also undertakes:
· Delivery of business advisory services;
· Delivery of educational seminars;
· Dissemination of business education materials;
· Hosting of networking events;
· Participation in investment and trade missions and prospecting abroad;
· Conducting investment market research;
· Facilitation of prospective investors (including site selection, and business partner introductions);
· Linking businesses with university, government and private-sector research and researchers;
· Linking businesses with capital funding sources (including debt and investment); and
· Promoting science and technology education choices through programs to familiarize students with high-tech-business career and entrepreneurial opportunities.
OCRI uses funding from federal, provincial, municipal, member, and fee-for-service sources to finance its activities. Many of the federal and provincial funding programs that OCRI participates in require municipal matching funds to demonstrate local support.
Regional Innovation Network (RIN) - Request for $250,000 in City partnership
funding
In
order to access $260,847 from the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation’s
RIN program in 2008, OCRI is requesting $250,000 in partnership funding from
the City of Ottawa. These funds will be supplemented with an additional
$358,643 in the form of private sector contributions allowing for a total project
allocation of $869,490.
This is the last year of a three-year provincial funding program which has contributed $1,400,000 in support toward the Regional Innovation Network. In both 2006 and 2007, the City has contributed $250,000 to this program. This year’s request will enable OCRI to meet the growing demand for services from the Cleantech and Ottawa MedTech Networks. It will also enable the growth of a therapeutics network, create better linkages to the research community, and enhance the capacity of the Investment and Commercialization Group to build and grow start up and emerging companies in Ottawa.
Ontario Research Commercialization
Project (ORCP) - Request for $100,000
in City partnership funding
In order to access $422,500 from the ORCP in 2008, OCRI is requesting $100,000 in partnership funding from the City of Ottawa. These funds will be combined with private sector contributions of $322, 500 to create a project fund totalling $845,000.
Investment Attraction – Request for $100,000
in City partnership funding
In order to access $200,000 from
the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade’s (DFAIT) Community
Investment Support Program (CISP) in 2008, OCRI is requesting $100,000 in
partnership funding from the City and $100,000 from private sector and partner
contributions. If successful, the
City’s $100,000 investment will allow OCRI to expand its capacity for
investment attraction activities by $400,000.
OCRI continues to execute lead generation activity under DFAIT’s CISP program. Under CISP, OCRI has focused on establishing global networks, testing and understanding various geographic markets, competitive forces and developing regional messaging. The 2008 lead generation program will target gaming/new media, security, clean energy and medical devices/convergent technologies in priority US markets. It will promote Ottawa as a major innovation hub in targeted global markets and continue to execute investment attraction activity in India, China, and the United Kingdom. Based on continued support from the City and building on our past success, OCRI expects to generate more than 80 international leads in 2008 under this program.
The Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade delivers the Community Investment Support Program (CISP) which helps to build local investment attraction capacity. CISP requires matching funds from the municipality of the applicant organization.
Within the Ottawa’s Economic Strategy, the City has been committed to a cluster-based economic development policy. An industry cluster is a group of companies that produce, mainly for export, similar products and/or services within a close geographic proximity such as a municipality or region. In response to the City’s approach to cluster-based economics, OCRI developed and implemented a cluster support model that supports cluster growth while minimizing the demand for new funds. The City supported this pilot project with $140,000 over the past two years. The result of this pilot project has been the creation of a logistic support system that is now supporting eight clusters through a set of productivity tools within the Global Marketing section of OCRI. In 2008, the clusters have defined a series of strategic initiatives that will strengthen and help grow the Ottawa economy. This current funding request will support a High School Pilot Technology Centre Project (Software), a Federal Industrial Benefits Capture Initiative (Security, Wireless, Software and Cleantech), an Industry recognition campaign (Contact Centres), and a Joint Targeted Marketing Initiative (Semiconductor).
Ottawa’s 20/20 Economic Strategy was guided by the directive to develop and support strong export-based economic generators. In its guiding principle “An Innovative City Where Prosperity is Shared Among All”, the Strategy identifies that the City should “accelerate the growth of export industries to increase the wealth of Ottawa’s local and rural economies”. The Strategy also established the following policies:
The funding requested in this report is to support those initiatives which respond directly to these policies and their intentions within the 20/20 Economic Strategy.
Regional
Innovation Network (RIN)
More specifically, the Regional Innovation Network includes a full-service investment and commercialization program for start-up and emerging companies in the life science, cleantech, and Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) sectors including:
This program has also launched a business accelerator, an expansion of Cleantech Initiative (formerly the Bioproducts, Energy and Environmental Technologies Business Network), and a launch of the Ottawa MedTech Network (formerly the Ottawa Medical Devices Network).
By approval of the City’s funds, and under the RIN program, the following deliverables will be achieved:
Components of the ORCP program will include:
If successful, OCRI through a $350,000 investment by the City to the RIN and OCRP will be able to expand its capacity for commercialization of innovation activities by $710,847.
The investment attraction activity proposed under this request for City funding participation includes:
Cluster Support
The Ottawa Partnership has been consulted and do support the recommendations contained in this report.
The funding for this initiative is available within the Economic Development Division’s 2008 Capital Budget allocation
Document 1 Schedules A – OCRI Global Marketing
(Investment Attraction) - $100,00 Capital Request
Document 2 Schedule B – OCRI (Regional Innovation Network) - $250,000 Capital Request
Document 3 Schedule C – OCRI (Ontario Research
Commercialization Project) - $100,000 Capital Request
Document 4 Schedule D – OCRI Global Marketing
(Cluster Support) - $70,000 Capital Request
Upon Council approval of the recommendations contained in this report,
Economic Development staff will proceed to formalize a funding agreement with
OCRI and monitor their activities.
SCHEDULES A – OCRI GLOBAL MARKETING
(INVESTMENT ATTRACTION) - $100,00 CAPITAL REQUEST
OCRI Global Marketing (Investment
Attraction) $100,000 Capital Request |
General Background Information:
It is important to note that the CISP program does
not allow for the utilization of salaried staff. Therefore project implementation requires the use of incremental
human resources that are not covered by the City’s annual operating grant. |
|
City Capital Request |
Other
Support |
CISP
Support |
Total |
Consulting Fees |
60,000 |
|
|
|
Direct project costs |
40,000 |
|
|
|
|
$100,000 |
$100,000 |
$200,000 |
$400,000 |
2008 CISP
Strategic Objectives:
OGM
has been approved by CISP to launch a series of specific projects that build on
our developed global relationships, embody the research and experience gained
over the last several years and position the Ottawa region to take advantage of
specific market opportunities.
Our
activity for 2008 has a total budget of $400,000 and will focus on the
following areas:
Expansion and Retention
Last
year, Ottawa saw a return to the employment levels experienced before the
technology downturn. Initial work was done on developing a business model to
identify and assist potential expansion targets. Our annual employment survey
completed in Dec 2007 confirmed that our larger firms were again expanding.
Contrasting this was increasing concern in many sectors, that the continued
strength of the Canadian dollar and the weakening of the US economy would
create challenges to continued growth.
Our
proposed activity under this project is to:
United States
The
United States remains Ottawa’s greatest market and source of Foreign Direct
Investment. The regions of greatest
concentration are California, Washington DC area and the New York / Boston
corridor. Past activity has allowed us
to establish an extensive network of contacts in these regions and to close
investment leads. Market factors continue to evolve including:
Our
proposed activity under this CISP project includes:
Target
events around which to build a program (partners in parenthesis) include:
United Kingdom
Europe remains a potential market, but one that is
essentially established with minimum potential for strong upside. Investment
and trade activity continues to centre on the United Kingdom and certainly the
most aggressive region for inward investment into Ottawa is the UK. Past
activities in Europe outside the UK have not resulted in significant payback.
Recent activities in the broadly defined sector of Homeland Security have
generated significant activity and resulted in trade related partnership with
the potential for conversion to investment. Under its regional development
activity, the UK has created a number of enterprise hubs, centers that incubate
both local companies as well as international companies considering inward
investment. Ottawa through OCRI is in the process of defining its own
Enterprise Hub concept that would include an international component and Ottawa
has been successful in attracting early stage US companies to the region.
Activity
would include:
China
Background
Investment
Attraction Activity
Our objective remains to establish Ottawa, China,
i.e. Ottawa as the preferred gateway for Chinese companies and institutions
into the North American market.
Middle East
Our
present CISP project has done research around on the Middle Eastern market. The
activity in this project will complete the initial market exploration by
developing a program around the premier ICT show in the region, GITEX, 19-23
October 2008 Dubai
India
Background
Investment
Attraction Activity
We will continue to monitor the desire of Indian
universities to create commercialization ties, particularly in the photonics
sector.
Chile and Brazil
Past
activity has included:
The
Ontario government has in country consultants in both Sao Paulo and Santiago.
Activity
under this program will be:
SCHEDULE
B – OCRI (REGIONAL INNOVATION NETWORK) –
$250,000 CAPITAL REQUEST
OCRI
(Regional Innovation Network) $ 250,000 Capital Request |
General Background Information: By
way of background, Ontario’s Regional Innovation Network (RIN) Program is
based on a system of regional networks. These are multi-stakeholder
organizations established through funding from the Government of Ontario to
promote partnerships among business, academia and local governments to
promote innovation. The
merger of the Ottawa Life Science Council into OCRI formalized OCRI as the
Regional Innovation Network center for Ottawa in 2007. Under this umbrella,
OCRI, along with partners from business, academia, government, research
institutions and the community at large expanded efforts to grow Ottawa’s
knowledge based economy from life science through to Cleantech and ICT. In
2007, OCRI was able to define programs and services to assist companies
across these sectors including the establishment of the Cleantech Initiative,
the Ottawa Medical Device (now Ottawa MedTech) Network, and through the
development of targeted service offerings to assist start up and emerging
companies access critical mentorship, market intelligence and access to
capital at critical stages. Currently,
the City of Ottawa provides an operating grant of $250,000.00 to assist in
the development and implementation of these programs and services, including
the support for 2 FTE and operating processes to ensure program success. This
$250,000 was essential to OCRI’s ability to continue to serve the life
science community while at the same time enhancing the operational capacity
to provide greater service to life sciences, Cleantech and ICT companies
within the Ottawa region and launching critical investment and
commercialization resources to meet the needs start up and emerging companies
in these knowledge based sectors. Under
this funding program, several significant programs have been developed and/or
enhanced, over and above the base operations. These included the following:
In
addition, a number of significant initiatives were developed and expanded to
ensure broad reach and facilitate business activity, promote local Ottawa
companies, and celebrate Ottawa success. These include:
Capital Grant Historical Information:
|
|
|
City Capital Request |
Province RIN Grant |
Total |
OCRI
2008 Capital Budget Request |
$250,000 |
$260,847 |
$510,847 |
This request to the City of Ottawa will enable OCRI to
meet the growing demand for services from the Cleantech and Ottawa MedTech
Networks, growth of a therapeutics network and better linkages to the research
community, and enhance the capacity of the Investment and Commercialization
Group to build to grow start up and emerging companies in Ottawa.
2008 OCRI City of Ottawa Deliverables
for the Regional Innovation Network
Program
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
SCHEDULE C – OCRI (ONTARIO RESEARCH
COMMERCIALIZATION
PROJECT) - $100,000 CAPITAL REQUEST
Ontario Research Commercialization
Project (ORCP)
$100,000 Capital Request |
As part of a request to
provide proposals to the Provincial Governments (MRI’s) Ontario research
Commercialization Project (ORCP), OCRI has developed an Ottawa response
entitled the Regional Innovation Development Program (RIDP.) This is a
collaborative initiative to improve “receptor capacity” – to help build the
existing technology-based Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and start-ups,
to accelerate technology and knowledge transfer, and to create more viable
and successful businesses, in order to develop a stronger economic base for
growth. Four distinct projects are included within the Ottawa RIDP (details
can be found below):
This is the second year
of funding as part of a 3 year provincial program to fund commercialization
activities in Ottawa. The province is providing direct funding of $1,800,000 over three years. The City approved $100,000 of capital funding
in 2006 and in 2007 to support
activity in year one and year two. This money has been used to support the
partnership component of the project, given that the Province’s contribution
cannot exceed 50% of total cash and in kind expenses. Therefore the current capital request of $100,000 will be used to further
support the partnership component of the project. The cash expenditure budget
for the project is summarized below. |
20/20 Plan Policy # 10, 11, 15, 20, 22 |
Framework Element: Information
Services
The Market/Competitive Intelligence program originally
focused on the life sciences and Cleantech industries. After a market
assessment and demand from other sectors in Ottawa, the decision was made to
provide this service offering to companies across life science, Cleantech and
ICT. Instead of an electronic portal for access to web-based queries, and to
manage subscription agreements with data management partners, a Manager of
Market Intelligence was hired to facilitate the enquiry process and provide
additional business analysis and support to companies as required. Additionally,
an in-house library has been established at OCRI providing outside members with
access to previously downloaded reports which are sectorally focused.
Currently, OCRI has subscription agreements with
Under the initial contract, access to technical
intelligence was be provided by two dedicated and trained staff with
proprietary access (valued at $250K/yr.) to the vast electronic libraries of
NRC-CISTI (one of the largest of its kind in the world, with about $7.5 million
of new acquisitions annually).
The program was to initially focus on the creation of
a multi-tiered portal for the content (i.e. secured, members-only and
administrative partners-only web access) with intelligence resources made
available to our partners and members.
NRC-CISTI capacity allows for access to resources within their vast
library system on a contract basis. It was determined with our NRC partner that
the contract be amended to better serve companies by providing them with
customized searches provided by in-house NRC-CISTI staff as opposed to
recruiting, training and retaining NRC –CISTI employees on site. Also,
NRC-CISTI employee recruitment process can take upwards of one year to complete
and there was an urgent need to find a solution suitable to local businesses.
Changes to operations have not changed accessibility
by partners and members under the terms of the ORCP program. The users of the
system are primarily two-fold. First
are the Business Development Officers who are assisting with the development of
business and marketing plans for the research spin-out opportunities. Second are those who are directly involved
in the research activities. That is,
the “members” and “partners” are the universities, colleges and hospitals
(primarily in the life science sectors) that OCRI engages with in research as
part of their other Ontario funding programs, including RIN activities. This also extends to companies across life
science and clean tech where there is a need to better understand the market
and positioning prior to entering the market. This “intelligence” information
is a critical missing element that will help determine where best to focus an
application of research or prototype as it moves from the lab into potential
market and product development.
The requests made by the users of the system can
easily be tracked and the value of the information assessed by the end user
(research or business oriented). This
feedback can be then used to help focus on those specific services that provide
more value and help tailor the process to those needs.
Implementation:
·
This program maintains
focus on life science industries and has been expanded to include clean
technologies, including clean energy, and ICT. The program is managed by OCRI
Investment and Commercialization.
·
NRC-CISTI will work with
OCRI’s Investment and Commercialization Group and specifically its Manager,
Market Intelligence, to deliver Competitive Technical Intelligence (CTI)
services on a customized and request by request basis. Technical intelligence materials that CISTI
can provide continue to include patent search results, technical journals and
reports, conference proceedings, and similar materials. Under this partnership, NRC-CISTI support
includes a reduced fee for service for access to technical information
specialists and in-house business analysts on an as needed basis.
·
Business Insights will
reduce the subscription rate for unlimited access subscription to Business
Insights reports across life science, Cleantech and ICT. Deloitte and PricewaterhouseCoopers
will also provide unlimited access to their proprietary market and competitive
intelligence research reports, having an approximate value of $20K/yr each
($10K staff “in-kind” and $10K materials).
·
Business Mentorship and
Entrepreneurship Program (BMEP), administered by MaRS, is part of an Ontario
wide program to assist early stage companies. Through BMEP, OCRI will utilize
more than $100K in reports for companies from data management companies like
Frost and Sullivan, Gartners, Thomson Financial, and others.
Framework Element: Business
Development
Successful commercialization requires interaction
among all of the individuals, associations, and potential research
opportunities (within universities, colleges and government labs) that support
R&D, innovation and commercialization within the region, as well as with
partnerships outside the region. It has
been said that exploring for new opportunities, finding alliances, and creating
collaboration in this space is a “body contact sport,” meaning that these
interactions usually require face-to-face dealings to be most effective. Often SMEs are reluctant to explore third
party IP opportunities or cannot spend their time, money, or resources to
explore and identify such alliances.
The SMEs need a team of individuals who are always on the “look out” for
them. As such, these individuals
provide a common point of “go to” for the SME that they can use to help search
for solutions, opportunities and create alliances. In essence, this project is like building a tech-transfer
capability that represents the SME community in their continual search for
opportunities.
Briefly, the objective of the Business Opportunity
Networks Program is to provide the SME community with a small team of competent
“opportunity seekers” (Business Development Officers) with technical, business,
and community understanding as well as direct experience in working with the
cultural and motivational differences that exist between the SMEs, research
labs, and the business community at large.
The team would bring an expanded network through their interface with
representatives from the university/college tech-transfer offices and other
provincial programs such as OCE and other ORCP funded programs. With one of their primary focuses being the
regular interaction with these external partnership and opportunity sources,
the formation of a strengthened opportunities and best practices network would
be established further supporting the commercialization of technologies or the
strengthening of existing companies. As
part of this initiative, the Ottawa team members would work with their counter
parts in other regions (e.g. Waterloo and Toronto) to share potential
prospects, best practices, and establish industry-academic linkages between
regions to build a greater pan-provincial understanding and create a more
integrated service package.
As Business Development Officers, these experienced
business individuals will first contact the SME senior management and begin
building the business case. As such,
individuals will be “field based” and spend the bulk of their time visiting
potential clients in their own environment.
Armed with this information, they will be able to populate a database to
share amongst other regions. Then,
during the course of their regular business interactions and networking with
tech transfer offices and other organizations at investor meetings, innovation
workshops, etc., they will work on making valuable connections that can further
engage the SME. These development
specialists will also help marshal resources from other RIDP programs (such as
using mentor networks, application of market readiness funds, suggesting
training courses, etc.) towards helping solve identified needs.
In summary, a list of duties to be performed by a
Business Development Officer would be to:
Maintain a portfolio of SMEs for which they work on
behalf to look for research, business and market opportunities;
·
Collect and distribute
relevant data regarding potential opportunities (through common databases,
project reports, progress summaries, meetings, etc.);
·
Provide a conduit and
linkage to tech-transfer offices in academic and government labs;
·
Provide access and
support of RIDP and other commercialization programs (such as OCE, IRAP, etc.)
to be delivered to the SME; and,
·
Network, not only
amongst themselves to share ideas and best practice implementations, but also
to engage in other regional and provincial technology networks and programs.
As the foundation of the Business Opportunity
Networks, the Business Development Officers are providing that critical
“people” connectivity for the SME to the research, business, funding, etc.
networks. They fill the critical roll
of providing the skills, time, resources, and cultural understanding to the
world “outside” – a gap the SMEs experience as they focus on their day-to-day
business to the exclusion of looking outwards to be better receptors of
research.
Each regional partner in the RIDP (Ottawa, Waterloo,
and Toronto) has different implementation needs and would hire Business
Development Officers with differing talent and skills reflecting their
priorities among the above duties to be filled. This approach provides the greatest flexibility in program delivery
and in achieving success based on the unique characteristics of each region.
Implementation:
·
Each Business
Development Officer will leverage other services within the city and region
such as connecting SME’s to the Entrepreneurship Centre or the CI/MI resources.
Framework Element:
Entrepreneur & Talent Development; Network Interaction
An entrepreneur is an agent of change – he or she
recognizes an opportunity and acts upon it.
It is through the development of the entrepreneur as a person that
long-term sustainable economical growth of small companies can be
achieved. A successful region is one
that develops a supply of highly skilled entrepreneurs who are capable of
building successful companies in sufficient numbers to transform the economy of
that region. It has been recognized
that, with the proper skills, entrepreneurs can indeed be “made”, and need not
be “born”.
There is no doubt that there are many things for
entrepreneurs to learn as an SME grows in its early stages, not only internal
corporate activities but also engaging with the community and through knowledge
transfer. This project is aimed at
helping them focus on their needs and developing essential skills. Individual business mentoring is one
important way to do this, but there are significant advantages in group
activities and shared experiences. Not
only do these activities expose entrepreneurs to new opportunities, but also
they enable the entrepreneurs to build their own networks. The Entrepreneur Development program is
directly aimed at filling the skills gap experienced by the entrepreneur and
opening them up to networks that expand their interaction with researchers (and
thus aiding to bridge the culture gap) and business opportunities.
There are several forums that provide development
opportunities and knowledge-transfer for entrepreneurs:
·
“Boot-camps” at which
individuals (often with only technology experience) learn the fundamentals of
running a technology-based SME.
·
Business training and
courses offered at local universities and colleges.
·
Venture Fairs at which
SMEs present their business proposition to investors.
·
Conferences that provide
a showcase of successes as well as providing the opportunity to create ongoing
strategy for developing and growing SMEs within a region.
·
Educational initiatives
that create a culture of entrepreneurship within students, and provide them
with the necessary skills to both start and build their own businesses.
·
Workshops and networking
events that bring together those in the community engaged in innovation and
commercialization directly with the SMEs.
·
A host of existing
formal and informal networks and clusters within regions (e.g. wireless
network, software network, photonics network, Bioproducts, Energy and
Environmental Technologies Business Network, Convergent Medical and Assistive
Technology (CMAT) network, etc.) are critical to the exchange of information,
the transfer of knowledge, and aiding the convergence of technologies.
Implementation:
Framework Element: Business
Development
In the early stages, the RIDP concept was developed
with the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector as its focus –
the major technology strength of the Ottawa region. The three major regions (Ottawa, Waterloo and Toronto) along the
Ontario technology corridor cover about 85% of the province’s ICT industrial
base and leading academic institutions.
Also, ICT are pervasive and enabling technologies that accelerate the
development of many other sectors as they also continue to grow.
This enabling approach is not unique to the ICT
industry, but applies to the major industry sectors (manufacturing, life sciences,
aerospace, etc.). OCRI Life Sciences
has also been developing a similar innovation framework for the life sciences
industry. The merging of OCRI and OLSC
has provided an excellent opportunity for a common innovation framework (as
described above). At the same time, it
is recognized that time-to-market and approach-to-market issues are different
for each sector within the respective industries (i.e. software,
semiconductors, drug discovery, bio medical devices and bio products are all
unique), the RIDP implementation can be used for any of them and in support of
cross-sector initiatives.
The OCRI/OLSC merger initiates a look at ICT and life
sciences industry innovation and commercialization opportunities (e.g.
bioinformatics). This Convergence Exploration
program is set to also explore linkages with other sectors, including
automotive, aerospace, energy, manufacturing, financial, etc. Canada faces a major innovation and
commercialization gap by not having efforts focused on opportunities that link
together sectors. This value-add
approach that focuses on these types of projects will help to uniquely position
and link several economic sectors important to Ontario.
Including a Convergence Exploration program is
critical in support of SMEs in order to take advantage of:
·
The growing trend in
R&D “convergence” that integrates often diverse technologies.
·
Engaging clusters to
create a critical mass exploration of technology and commercialization
opportunities that might not otherwise exist.
·
Providing complementary
skills in the development of new, and often complex, technology and market
opportunities.
·
Connecting the right
people from the right organizations regardless of sector or geography
·
Driving to the
requirement to be an active player in the rapidly developing global economy.
This program is a link into other Ontario innovation
and commercialization programs within MRI (that include the ORCP, OCE, MaRS,
Ontario Research Funds, and the Regional Innovation Networks (RINs)) that
address a variety of technology and industry sectors.
Implementation:
SCHEDULE D –
OCRI GLOBAL MARKETING (CLUSTER SUPPORT) –
$70,000 CAPITAL REQUEST
OCRI Global Marketing (Cluster
Support) $70,000
Capital Request |
General Background Information:
High School Pilot Technology Centre Project Background ·
Registration in
Science and Technology programs in Ottawa post secondary institutions reached
record lows in school year 2007-2008 ·
High School students
demonstrate an adversity to enter the requisite courses for entry to post
secondary Science and Technology courses. ·
Ottawa companies are
encountering difficulty in recruiting young talent ·
Secondary schools have
difficulty in maintaining technology infrastructure and appropriately trained
teachers ·
OCRI, in conjunction
with the Software Cluster and the Earl Of March High School ran a highly
successful series of events in 2007 that were well received by students ·
The Ontario Centres of
Excellence are highly supportive of the initiative and the Ministry of
Colleges Training and Universities have expressed their willingness to
partner ·
Carleton University,
the University of Ottawa and Algonquin College are participating in project
definition ·
Corporations that are
participating in project definition are IBM, Cisco, RIM, Dell and Macadamian
Technologies Objectives ·
Establish a pilot to
demonstrate how a private sector supported regional technology centre could
be used to deliver approved high school curricula in technology on a
sustainable basis ·
Establish preferential
entry to post secondary institutions for graduates of technology courses in
high school ·
Expand existing coop
and summer work programs in high school to integrate with the technology
curriculum ·
Transfer the program to the Ministry of
Education for long term funding Work program ·
Identify an existing
private sector technology centre that could be made available to the project
for one day a week ·
With a selected group
of high schools, implement credit programs for the school year 2008-2009 ·
Implement a work
experience program Federal Industrial Benefits Capture Initiative Background Over the past five years,
the Canadian SME sector has been lobbying the Federal government to open up
its procurement system to facilitate business capture by SME’s. For the most
part, this has been a frustrating experience. A potentially much more
rewarding opportunity exists that involves not a SME to government
transaction, but a business to business transaction. The Canadian Government,
and more particularly the Department of National Defence, is embarking on a
series of major capital programs. In the majority of these programs, the
equipment cannot be supplied from the Canadian industrial base and must be
supplied by a foreign supplier. To maximize the benefit of these programs to
Canadian industry, the procurement contracts contain obligations on the prime
contractor to identify and place contracts with Canadian industry. These
industrial benefits can either be direct, ie goods and services produced in
Canada related to the prime contract, or indirect benefits which are goods
and services procured by the prime contractor and designated subcontractors not
related to the capital program. Although Canada had a
number of capital programs throughout the last decades of the past century,
this level of activity has not occurred over the past several years. The
result is a general lack of awareness amongst Canadian industry of the
Industrial Offset opportunity. Furthermore, increasing emphasis is being
placed by the government on indirect benefits and knowledge based industries.
The Ottawa industrial base is uniquely positioned to take advantage of this
opportunity. Challenges to successful
revenue capture by Canadian industry include: ·
Insufficient knowledge
of the Canadian industrial offset program and its operation; ·
Limited knowledge of
the specific programs and their offset obligations: ·
The difficulty of identifying
the various operating units of primes and their subs and the contacts within
those units; ·
Limited knowledge on
how to execute an effective business development function to capture
contracts, and ·
The lack of any
effective mechanism to link companies with offset obligations to companies
looking for opportunities. Objectives
Work plan The project would have four
components: 1.
Awareness Building: A series of two hour briefings would be given to
industry, either by cluster or in general forums to make industry aware of
the opportunities. This would be followed by a series of more interactive one
day seminars on effective business development strategies. The briefings
would be delivered by industry experts and contain a talk by at least one
successful SME. The seminars will be led by an industry expert and again
include a successful SME and a Prime contractor. 2.
Research: A database will be developed of the present
programs and their obligations. This will include the Prime contractor and
the contact for offsets. For each contract this data will be extended to
subcontractors for which offsets can be claimed. This research will be
progressively extended to the operating locations or specific divisions of
all contractors being tracked. 3.
Contractor Visit
Program: OCRI Global Marketing
(OGM), working with industry partners, will begin the identification of
contractors most likely to yield offset opportunities. A series of site
visits or visits to Ottawa will then be coordinated for small group visits
between Ottawa SME’s and the identified contractor. This activity will extend
beyond the principal operating location of the contractor working on the
contract into other divisions and operating locations. This activity will be
executed in partnership with individual clusters, prime contractors,
International Trade’s in country staff and experts in the Ottawa region. This
program will be executed through OGM’s Business Development staff as a pilot
in 2008 and then fully integrated into its 2009 Business Plan. 4.
Matching Service: Using its existing productivity management tools,
OGM will build the capacity to link members of the Ottawa Knowledge Based
Industry to offset opportunities. Contact Centre Industry Recognition Program Background ·
Ottawa has seen a
significant growth in its contact centre business and they are now major
employers in the region ·
Ottawa’s industry is
strongest in the financial sector and technical support ·
The jobs are well
paying and provide excellent career opportunities ·
The industry suffers
from a major image problem, as being low paying and dead end ·
The industry has
increasing recruiting challenges, both from poor image amongst potential
employee base and among influencers to young people ·
The industry has
established a task force to address the situation ·
A survey has been done
to obtain base data on the industry ·
Under a separate
project, a long term strategy for growth is being developed Objectives
Work plan
Semiconductor Partnering Initiative Background
Objectives
Work Plan ·
Completion of the
White Paper by 1 Apr ·
Definition of the
group of companies and development of a cooperative strategy by 1 June 08 ·
Pilot implementation
of the activity through to Dec 08. ·
Evaluation of the
results Jan-Mar 09. |
Funding
We are seeking 70K in funding
for the period 1 Apr 08- 31 Mar 09. This funding would be to provide one full
time junior program management individual and one half time clerical individual
to support the administration and execution of the above projects.
Expected leverage of direct
project costs and in kind support is:
It is therefore expected that
the City investment of $70K would leverage $425K in other short term project
funding.
|
City Capital Request |
Other Support |
Total |
Consulting Fees |
70,000 |
|
70,000 |
Other Direct / In Kind
project costs |
- |
425,000 |
425,000 |
|
$70,000 |
$425,000 |
$495,000 |
2008 Cluster Capital Ask
High School Pilot
Technology Project
Costs
Facility
Company
mentoring Sponsor
related tests |
In-kind
(18,500)
(15,000) (5,000) |
0
|
Program
Administrator
|
|
$22,500
|
Teachers
(OCRI tech coaches)
|
$200-$300
per day x 2 teachers
|
$12,000
|
Teacher
Training- train 3
|
$200
per day x 3 teachers x 10 days
|
$6,000
|
Curriculum
Development (one time)
|
In-kind
(10,000)
|
0
|
Consumables
|
|
$1,000
|
Transportation
of students
|
$150
x 20 day
|
$3,000
|
Certification
Tests
Based
on 30 students @150 per certification test
|
3
tests x $150
|
$13,500
|
Approx
Total per Semester Cash
|
|
$57,500
|
For two semesters, $115,000 direct $77,000 in kind
Cash
Federal Industrial
Benefits Capture Initiative
Costs
Awareness Building
Research
Contractor Visits
Company Matching
Contact Centre
Industry Recognition Program
Campaign Strategy Development $10k in kind
Material Development $15K $10K in kind $5K industry contribution
Printing, reproduction $20K industry contribution
Commercial Placement costs $25K industry contribution
In school activity $5K in kind
Targeted Marketing
Initiative
Campaign development, in country meetings, in country logistics $80 K Federal
Company definition and coordination $20K in kind
Marketing strategy development $30K in kind
Travel $50K in kind
BUILDING
Ottawa's eCONOMIC PROSPERITY - a funding request to support ocri initatives
Favoriser la prospérité économique d'Ottawa –
demande de financement pour soutenir les initiatives du OCRI
ACS2008-PTE-ECO-0015 city-wide / À l’Échelle de la
ville
Appearing before
Committee on this item were Mr. Rob Mackay, Acting Director of Economic and
Environmental Sustainability, Mr. Ian Duff, Manager of Economic Development,
Mr. Jeffrey Dale, President and CEO of OCRI, Ms. Michelle Scarborough, Vice-President of Investment and
Commercialization at OCRI, and Mr. Michael Darch, Executive Director of OCRI
Global Marketing.
Mr. Mackay introduced the item, after which Mr. Dale spoke to a
PowerPoint presentation in which he provided an overview of the four (4)
initiatives that would be funded through the City’s contribution and the
partnerships involved in same. A copy
of this presentation is held on file with the City Clerk.
Councillor Wilkinson expressed concerns over recent announcements by Dell and asked where OCRI fit into such situations. Mr. Dale expressed disappointment with the financial realities of Dell and the job losses associated with it but pride in the work and effort that had gone into securing Dell to move to Ottawa. He referenced a recent job fair, which had quickly sold out in terms of the companies that signed up for it. He explained that Dell had invested in training their people and the people losing their jobs with Dell were highly skilled, highly marketable, and would be picked up quickly by other companies. He indicated OCRI had taken an active in this regard.
In terms of filling the buildings left vacant by Dell, Mr. Dale indicated OCRI did not work specifically on filling buildings. However, he explained one building would continue to be occupied by the company until the fall. With respect to their second building, he referenced discussions with estate agents and suggested that there was a lot of interest in it.
Responding to questions from Councillor Jellett with respect to the funding allocation, Mr. Mackay explained this $520,000 was part of the allocation for OCRI approved as part of the 2008 budget for capital funding. Therefore, the money was already earmarked for OCRI and the purpose of the current report was to advise Council as to how it was being used.
In response to a further question from the Councillor with respect to economic development in Orléans, Mr. Dale noted that last year, OCRI had started an initiative in the east end. He explained one of the challenges related to the vacancy rate in the east end, which stood at just over 3%, which made it difficult for companies to expand without building. However, he indicated OCRI had been working with east end Councillors and staff in the City’s Economic and Environmental Sustainability Branch to identify companies that would be interested in expanding in order to find opportunities to bring them to the east end. He maintained this was not a short-term task. He then discussed a number of programs and initiatives through which OCRI was working with entrepreneurs from across the City.
When asked about staff’s plans for economic development in Orléans, Mr. Mackay indicated the Branch was looking at bringing forward a strategy to address where jobs were not and where they should be, given the infrastructure in place as well as the reality of Orléans. He explained staff had been working through the P3 initiatives to get land ready and that they wanted to expand in this regard. In terms of targeting industries that were prepared to go east of the split, he discussed barriers such as the split itself and the location of supporting industries in the area of St-Laurent Boulevard. He advised that staff would be bringing forward a strategy to have specific policies and some actions to address these challenges.
Responding to a follow-up question from Councillor Jellett with respect to the possibility of facilitating economic development in the east end, Mr. Mackay noted that, through Team Ottawa Orléans, four economic development officers within the City looking at the issue, and OCRI, the City was more than prepared to explore a more direct approach and that staff would start working up the economic strategy. He offered to come back to Committee to discuss the idea.
Councillor Desroches posed questions with respect to Ottawa’s business parks and the City’s efforts and bringing businesses to them. Mr. Mackay responded by explaining the process followed when leads came to the City; staff promoted all business parks by providing information on all of them as possible options and, depending on the specific needs of the business, the options were narrowed. He maintained that in the end, it was a client-driven process.
Responding to a question from Councillor Desroches with respect to how the City of Ottawa was stacking-up against others in terms of leveraging funding from other levels of government, Mr. Dale noted that it was a very competitive business. However, he indicated there had been some very interesting projects at the Provincial level but that federally, there was a lot of work to be done to get Southern Ontario and the Ottawa area on the radar in terms of economic development.
Mr. Alan Shields, Parking Angel Association, had registered to speak on the topic of tourism. He indicated he wanted to talk about economic development, how it affected tourism, and how tourists were treated.
As Acting Chair, Councillor Desroches ruled the delegation’s presentation out of order and offered to meet with him offline to redirect him appropriately.
At this juncture, Committee voted on the report recommendation.
That the Corporate Services and Economic Development
Committee recommend Council approve up to $520,000 in partnership funding to
the Ottawa Centre for Research and Innovation (OCRI) to support the delivery of
the following programs:
· Regional Innovation Network (RIN);
· Ontario Research Commercialization Project (ORCP);
· Investment Attraction; and
· Cluster Support.
CARRIED