Staff at the Northwestern Ontario Innovation Centre have settled into new digs at Confederation College in Thunder Bay.
It's the third move in two years for the centre after a short 14-month stay in the former Hillcrest High School in the city's north end, which had been dubbed the Centre of Change.
Innovation Centre manager Judy Sander was excited about the July move to the inner city campus and the chance to work with the college on new partnerships in innovation and entrepreneurship.
“It’s such a good fit and we’ve dealt with so many college grads and college projects that this is a slam dunk. (Confederation president) Jim Madder is really committed to boosting entrepreneurship in all areas of the college.”
The staff of eight have moved into the former Natural Resource Centre, a 4,000-square-foot building on campus which provides enough room for their Venture Vault, some shared office space for their early stage entrepreneur clients.
The Innovation Centre provides assistance for fledgling entrepreneurs in business planning, marketing, writing research grant applications and make connections to experts in manufacturing, engineering and patent law.
It operates on a funding mix of provincial, municipal and sponsorship dollars, and is part of the Northern Technology Alliance that includes applied technology centres in Sault Ste. Marie, Sudbury and North Bay.
The Innovation Centre originally spent the first 12 years of its existence at Lakehead University before running out of space for programming. They made the jump to Hillcrest in 2011 after a private developer purchased the building to create a business incubator.
While the move made sense at the time, to be closer to their business startup clients, the historic building was monstrous and drafty in the wintertime.
“About the time we were deciding should we stay or go, the college identified this space and it was so ideal that it made the decision really easy,” said Sander.
Many of their client companies still lease space at Hillcrest, “so we’ll be back and forth to the old location.”
The move to the college brings them closer to their newly created Advanced Manufacturing Lab, a partnership with Kam Valley Industries, which has moved into a 2,000-square-foot space on the campus.
The lab's centrepiece, a high-precision mill-turning centre, was delivered in July for installation. More machinery arrives this fall.
“I think it’s a good move,” said Sander. “We're happy to be here and there’s lots of positive things we can do with the college.
“For me, this space is a stepping stone for other things we can do. It really solidifies the partnership with the college and going forward we have a lot of great ideas on where we take it from here.”
