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Posted Oct 14, 2007, 5:42 AM
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Registered User
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Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Grand Bay-Westfield :: NB
Posts: 3,075
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mylesmalley
Let's hope. I know Dieppe is pushing hard. I'm really looking forward to this inland port idea that's been discussed somewhat lately. It could mean a lot of jobs for the region, not to mention development.
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Well, Moncton is pushing hard for either inland and the Convention Conter as well but the drawback is both projects seem being ignored by the Federal. Anyway, the city population is growing, in that case, Moncton has to provide quality jobs to newcomers and like you said above the Inland port could be a huge job generator. I also think Moncton city council wants to give a new upswing to IT and call center cluster with help of Austin University or something.
http://www.moncton.org/search/englis...th%20cover.pdf
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Moncton has taken another small step in its evolution into a technological Hub City.
Telegraph-Journal, Published Wednesday September 26th, 2007, Appeared on page B1
Link to original article
A group of business, education, research and economic development leaders known as the Greater Moncton Technology Planning Group released a report Tuesday, entitled "Applying the Benchmark." [Download the report here] It's billed as the group's first "implementation report," building on a strategy released in December that focused on accelerating technology-based economic growth in the Moncton area.
That strategy, developed in partnership with the IC2 Institute of the University of Texas at Austin, highlighted Oulu, Finland as a benchmark city for Moncton to model its strategy after. The latest report results from an April mission to Oulu, where a handful of group members got a first-hand look at the remote Finnish city. Despite being just 150 kilometres from the Arctic Circle, with a population comparable to Moncton's, Oulu boasts a burgeoning tech sector.
Doug Robertson, a Moncton city councillor and chairman of the technology planning group, said Oulu has about 800 technology-based companies. That includes cellphone giant Nokia, which employs more than 4,500 people in the city. While Moncton has only about a quarter of that capacity, Robertson believes there's plenty of room for growth if all the area's players buy into a cohesive plan.
Two major steps detailed in the latest report would create a full-time agency to co-ordinate the growth of the tech sector, and establish a "post-secondary centre of excellence" to drive research. A subsequent report, likely to be released later this fall, will lay out further recommendations for a technology commercialization centre that would help turn ideas into marketable products.
Robertson said discussions are underway with the provincial government regarding the establishment of the full-time agency, tentatively dubbed "Innovation Moncton."
"It would be tasked with co-ordinating the strategy, coordinating the players within the innovation system, playing a networking role and developing local, national and international partnerships, relationships and exchanges," said Robertson, who estimates it would employ three people. "If we're truly going to be effective in implementing this strategy and achieving the objectives we've identified, we need local dedicated resources to carry it out."
Robertson would like to see the province get on board in the startup phase, but envisions an industry-supported organization in the future.
As for a post-secondary partnership, further co-operation with the province will be necessary. Robertson believes the group's goals tie in nicely with the recent report from the Commission on Post-Secondary Education in New Brunswick.
Robertson said that Oulu, which began to move its economy away from dependence on natural resources some 40 years ago, has a "very powerful engine" of integration. It re-evaluates its plan every five years, and universities will adjust programs to respond to changes in the strategy. Meanwhile, dozens of PhDs graduate and continue their research in the area, which hosts a national research centre in addition to a wide array of companies.
"There's a very powerful relationship between all the players, from the post-secondary institutes to the research community to the private sector," said Robertson. "If we can move towards that kind of alignment, it's going to make Moncton look a lot more attractive as a place to invest."
A return delegation from Oulu will arrive in Moncton tonight and spend two busy days looking for business and learning opportunities between the two cities.
One of the key sectors Moncton's strategy aims to build is in the biomedical sector, which already features such organizations as the Atlantic Cancer Research Institute.
Dr. Rodney Ouellette, the institute's CEO, was part of the delegation to Oulu, and he sees plenty of potential for Moncton to emulate Oulu's success.
"They've really got a vibrant system," said Ouellette. "I think the tech sector represents almost half of the workforce and they've got a very good system where universities, colleges and government research facilities are very well-aligned. They each know what their role is and work together so they basically become almost a production facility in terms of minds, moving those minds out into the community to start up businesses and keeping the economy very robust and growing."
Eric Pelletier, Enterprise Greater Moncton's manager of investment attraction, also participated in the Oulu mission. He believes it was a great first step toward a brighter economic future for Moncton and all of New Brunswick.
"What we saw there was really a great model to base our efforts on and something to strive to," said Pelletier. "They're many years ahead of us but if we can parlay whatever we have here into the next generation of IT companies and the next generation of knowledge-based companies, I think it will be very positive for our region and New Brunswick as a whole."
Last edited by ErickMontreal; Oct 14, 2007 at 6:08 AM.
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If its that this is a weird location.
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