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Report to
Rapport au:
Finance and Economic Development Committee / Comité des finances et du développement économique
June 6, 2017 / 6 juin 2017
and Council / et au Conseil
June 14, 2017 / 14 juin 2017
Submitted on May 17, 2017
Soumis le 17 mai 2017
Submitted by
Soumis par:
John Smit
Director / Directeur
Economic Development and Long Range Planning / Développement économique et Planification à long terme
Planning, Infrastructure and Economic Development Department / Directions générale de la planification, de l’infrastructure et du développement économique
(613) 580-2424, 13866, John.Smit@ottawa.ca
Ward: CITY WIDE / À L'ÉCHELLE DE LA VILLE
File Number: ACS2017-PIE-EDP-0016
SUBJECT: 2016 Economic Development Strategy Implementation Update and 2017 Implementation Plan
OBJET: Mise à jour sur l’état d’avancement de la mise en œuvre de la stratégie de développement économique de 2016 et plan de mise en œuvre de 2017
REPORT RECOMMENDATIONS
That the Finance and Economic Development Committee recommend that Council:
1. Receive the 2016 Economic Development Strategy Implementation Update set out in Document 1; and
2. Approve the 2017 Economic Development Priorities and Work Plan as described in this report with details in Document 2 and 3.
RECOMMANDATIONS DU RAPPORT
Que le Comité des finances et du développement économique recommande au Conseil :
1. de prendre connaissance de la mise à jour sur l’état d’avancement de la mise en œuvre de la Stratégie de développement économique de 2016, présentée dans le document 1;
2. d’approuver le Plan de travail et les Priorités en matière de développement économique de 2017, tels que décris dans le présent rapport et détaillés dans les documents 2 et 3.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
In May 2015, Council approved Partnerships for Innovation, the City’s Economic Development Strategy Update 2015-2018 (ACS2015-CMR-OCM-0006). This represents an update to Partnerships for Prosperity, the City’s previous Economic Development Strategy which was approved by Council in July 2010 (ACS2010-ICS-CSS-0011).
Partnerships for Innovation, outlines the City’s updated vision for economic development and defines a variety of economic development programs, services, and initiatives to be implemented over the four years of the strategy.
As part of the strategy update, Economic Development committed to returning annually to Committee and Council to provide an update on the strategy’s implementation.
This report provides an update on the strategy’s implementation progress to date as well as an overview of key initiatives and areas of focus that are proposed for the remaining term of Council.
Specifically, the work plan now includes initiatives and programs from the Research and Forecasting, Markets Management, Sponsorship and Advertising, and Rural Affairs Branches which were moved, as part of the realignment, under Economic Development and the greater Planning, Infrastructure and Economic Development Department (PIED).
Additionally, the work plan, through the proposal of a new and refocused economic development strategy, focuses on leveraging the most recent organizational change that saw the integration of the Policy Planning Branch (formerly with Planning Services) and Economic Development to form the Economic Development and Long Range Planning Branch.
Assumptions and Analysis
The updated economic development strategy, Partnerships for Innovation, centres on four key pillars of focus and a series of proposed initiatives. The four key pillars of focus include: Investment Attraction and Business Expansion and Retention, Tourism Development, Entrepreneurship and Research and Information Tools.
Implementation of the strategy tracked well in 2016 with approximately half of the initiatives identified in Partnerships for Innovation completed or underway. Key accomplishments for 2016 included:
• Completing the Innovation Centre at Bayview Yards, a world class centre for community collaboration, innovation and job creation;
• Hosting the Education and Economy Summit, which provided a forum for nearly 250 stakeholders from across Ottawa to discuss how they can better work together to promote long-term prosperity for the City;
• Leading the India Trade Mission, which resulted in over $80 million in agreements between Ottawa companies and their Indian counterparts; and
• Implementing the sold-out Tourism Summit, which brought together the City’s tourism stakeholders to jointly define and commit to long-term growth strategies for Ottawa’s hospitality and tourism sector beyond 2017.
Examples of initiatives outlined in Partnerships for Innovation that will continue to be advanced in 2017 include Invest Ottawa, Music and Film Industry Support, Community Improvement Plans, Business Improvement Area Support, and the Innovation Pilot Program.
In addition to these initiatives, key areas of focus for Economic Development will include the Knowledge Based Business Sector, Rural Economic Development, Tourism and Creative Industries and Urban Services.
Financial Implications
The 2017 Economic Development Priorities and Work Plan will be completed within existing resources. Any additional funding requirements identified through these initiatives will be brought forward through a future budget process.
Public Consultation/Input
The development of Partnerships for Innovation was done in consultation with a variety of internal and external stakeholders. Feedback from these stakeholders was incorporated into the four-year strategy which reflects Ottawa’s economic needs and priorities.
RÉSUMÉ
En mai 2015, le Conseil approuvait la Stratégie des partenariats pour l’innovation, qui constitue la mise à jour de la stratégie de développement économique 2015-2018 de la Ville (ACS2015-CMR-OCM-0006). Ce document est une version actualisée de la Stratégie des partenariats pour la prospérité, la précédente stratégie de développement économique de la Ville, que le Conseil avait approuvée en juillet 2010 (ACS2010-ICS-CSS-0011).
La Stratégie des partenariats pour l’innovation décrit la nouvelle vision de la Ville en matière de développement économique et définit une variété de programmes, de services et d’initiatives de développement économique devant être mis en oeuvre au cours des quatre années que durera la stratégie.
Dans le cadre de cette mise à jour, Développement économique s’est engagé à rendre compte annuellement au Comité et au Conseil, afin de faire le point sur l’état d’avancement de la mise en œuvre de la stratégie.
Le présent rapport propose donc une mise à jour sur l’état d’avancement de la stratégie et offre un aperçu des principales initiatives et des domaines d’intérêt proposés d’ici la fin du mandat du Conseil.
Plus précisément, le plan de travail contient à présent des initiatives et des programmes provenant des directions de la Recherche et des Prévisions, de la Gestion des marchés, des Commandites et de la Publicité, et des Affaires rurales, qui ont été transférés, dans le cadre de la réorganisation, vers Développement économique et plus généralement vers la Direction générale de la planification, de l’infrastructure et du développement économique.
Par ailleurs, le plan de travail, par le biais d’une stratégie de développement économique nouvelle et recentrée, est axé sur l’optimisation du tout récent changement organisationnel qui a donné lieu à la fusion de la Direction de la planification des politiques (anciennement rattachée aux Services d’urbanisme) et de Développement économique pour former la Direction du développement économique et de la planification à long terme.
Hypothèses et analyse
La stratégie actualisée de développement économique, intitulée Stratégie des partenariats pour l’innovation, est fondée sur quatre grands piliers et une série d’initiatives proposées. Voici les quatre piliers de la stratégie : Attraction des investissements et croissance et conservation des entreprises, Développement touristique, Entrepreneuriat et Outils de recherche et d’information.
La mise en oeuvre de la stratégie s’est bien déroulée en 2016, environ la moitié des initiatives désignées dans la Stratégie des partenariats pour l’innovation ayant été réalisées ou entamées. Voici quelques-unes des principales réalisations de 2016 :
• Achèvement du Centre d’innovation dans les cours Bayview, un centre de collaboration communautaire, d’innovation et de création d’emploi de niveau international;
• Tenue d’un Sommet sur l’éducation et l’économie, qui a servi de tribune à près de 250 intervenants de partout à Ottawa, venus discuter des moyens de mieux collaborer à la promotion de la prospérité à long terme de la ville;
• Organisation de la Mission commerciale en Inde, qui a donné lieu à des ententes totalisant plus de 80 millions de dollars entre des entreprises d’Ottawa et leurs contreparties indiennes;
• Mise en oeuvre du Sommet sur le tourisme, tenu à guichets fermés et qui a permis aux intervenants du tourisme de la Ville de définir conjointement des stratégies de croissance à long terme du secteur de l’hôtellerie et du tourisme à Ottawa, et de s’y engager après 2017.
Parmi les exemples d’initiatives décrites dans la Stratégie des partenariats pour l’innovation qui continueront d’être menées en 2017, mentionnons Investir Ottawa, le soutien à l’industrie de la musique et du cinéma, des plans d’amélioration communautaire, le soutien de zones d’amélioration commerciale et le Programme pilote d’innovation.
Outre ces initiatives, les principaux domaines d’intervention en matière de développement économique comprendront le secteur de l’entreprise axée sur le savoir, le développement économique rural, le tourisme et les industries créatives ainsi que les services urbains.
Répercussions financières
Le Plan de travail et les Priorités en matière de développement économique de 2017 seront réalisés au moyen des ressources existantes. Tout autre financement requis, établi dans le cadre de ces initiatives, devra être demandé lors du prochain processus budgétaire.
Consultation publique et commentaires
La Stratégie des partenariats pour l’innovation a été élaborée avec l’aide de nombreux intervenants internes et externes. Leurs commentaires ont été intégrés dans la stratégie quadriennale, qui traduit les besoins et les priorités économiques d’Ottawa.
BACKGROUND
On May 13, 2015, Council approved the Economic Development Strategy Update 20152018 (ACS2015-CMR-OCM-0006 – Partnerships for Innovation). This represented an update to the Partnerships for Prosperity Economic Development Strategy approved by Council on June 22, 2010.
The updated strategy - Partnerships for Innovation, outlined the City’s updated vision for economic development and defined a variety of existing and new economic development programs, services, and initiatives to be implemented over the four years of the Strategy which coincides with the current term of Council (2015-2018).
Over the life of the initial and updated strategy, Economic Development committed to returning to Committee and Council annually with an Economic Development Strategy Implementation Update and Plan, the purpose of which is to provide an annual update on the strategy’s implementation progress and to outline the priorities and work plan for the coming year.
On July 13, 2016 Council adopted the City’s new organizational structure. Economic Development continues to offer the same business lines of the former Economic Development and Innovation Department. Additionally, Economic Development now includes the City’s sponsorship and advertising, markets management, research and forecasting and rural affairs business lines. More recently, through the process of confirming key leadership positions within the Planning, Infrastructure and Economic Development department, Economic Development has now been integrated with Long Range Planning as the Economic Development and Long Range Planning Branch.
This report provides an update on the strategy’s implementation in 2016 as well as an overview of the work planned for Economic Development for the remainder of this term of Council within the framework of priorities within the new Planning, Infrastructure and Economic Development department that will set the stage for determining the projects and priorities for Economic Development that will be defined and brought forward as part of the priorities for the next term of Council (2018 – 2022).
DISCUSSION
2016 Implementation Update
Partnerships for Innovation was developed to provide an update and refresh of the City’s Economic Development Strategy initially set out in Partnerships for Prosperity that was approved in June, 2010. The updated strategy identified a number of initiatives to be implemented over the course of 2015-2018 under four pillars of focus which include:
• Investment Attraction and Business Expansion and Retention
• Entrepreneurship
• Tourism Development and
• Research and Information Tools.
An overview of the major initiatives and programs that were implemented from the City’s economic development strategy in 2016 under each of the four pillars is detailed within Document 1. Recommendation 1 provides for Committee and Council to receive this update.
Implementation of the strategy has tracked well with approximately half of the initiatives identified in Partnerships for Innovation either completed or underway. Some of these are now integrated into the ongoing delivery of Economic Development as per normal operational requirements and unless set out elsewhere in this report, will continue.
2017 Economic Development Priorities and Work Plan
Context
Through the City’s new organizational structure that was put in place in July 2016 and subsequent adjustments to combine ED and Long Range Planning in one branch within the PIED department, the stage has been to re-examine the priorities for ED in building the City of the 21st century. The previous economic development strategy – Partnerships for Prosperity and the 2015-2018 up-date, Partnerships for Innovation have established a solid base for the City participating in and supporting economic growth and prosperity. The re-alignment however, provides an opportunity to take the City’s economic development focus to a new level where the function of ED is to work with key partners in developing an overarching economic development strategy that builds on key assets and opportunities to provide for a strategic role for the City to support, direct and guide economic development growth, prosperity and economic diversification as part of broader city building.
This section of the report provides an overview of the work planned for Economic Development in 2017 and into 2018 within the framework of priorities within the new Planning, Infrastructure and Economic Development department. This includes the major initiatives from the Partnerships for Innovation Strategy that will continue to be advanced in 2017 as carry over items from 2016 and new items. More importantly however, with the realignment and the refocus of priorities, this report discusses the strategic directions that Economic Development will pursue to build on the work being undertaken by the City’s economic development partners and to respond to opportunities flowing from the re-alignment of Economic Development with Planning, Infrastructure and Economic Development department.
Renewed Strategic Focus for Economic Development
A. Key Focus Areas
The City of Ottawa exhibits a number of key assets that can be leveraged as focus areas for economic growth and diversification. These include the City being a national capital which has historically been the driver of the City’s economy through the numerous government departments and agencies that have been and continue to be a mainstay of Ottawa’s employment. As a national capital, with many federal government departments and agencies, Ottawa also benefits from a highly educated population involved in many aspects of research to support federal initiatives and programs that have contributed to the growth of the knowledge based industry in Ottawa. These include the National Research Council (NRC), Conference Board of Canada and the Central Experimental Farm. In addition, as a federal government city, Ottawa has strong ties to the international community with numerous diplomatic missions and Nongovernment organization (NGO’s) that operate in the international arena headquartered in the city. The federal government presence in Ottawa therefore is an asset on several fronts that has in the past, currently is and can continue to be leveraged in growing and diversifying the Cities economy.
Having the highest educated population per capita of any other major city in Canada, with four major post secondary institutions and government researchers, Ottawa has developed a very strong knowledge based industry sector. This began with telecommunications and has now evolved to be multi faceted in the Information and Communication technology (ICT) sector with major nationals and new firms being part of a high tech ecosystem that is the largest per capita of any city in the Country with roughly 65,000 employees and about 1900 companies. The continued growth and diversification of knowledge based industries is the most significant area of focus for growing and diversifying the City’s economy. New evolving technologies being developed within Ottawa’s knowledge based industry sector include autonomous vehicles, next generation networks, data analytics, and cyber security. In addition to this diversification, and under the umbrella of the knowledge based industry sector with post secondary institutions that can feed talent and support innovation in technological development, the City’s hospital infrastructure that supports a health sciences business sector, and the City’s significant agricultural areas, other key focus areas where Ottawa can position itself as a leader includes strengthened alignments and relationships alignment of post secondary institutions to support business growth, health sciences growth, and precision agriculture/agri tech.
Finally, with the future economy of cities being linked to how cities are able to position themselves to successfully compete on a world stage, the fabric and quality of life offered by cities is becoming increasingly important for attracting knowledge based business growth and investment which are critical to economic growth and diversification of city economies in the 21st century. Emphasis therefore needs to also be placed on smart city growth and development as well as creative and cultural industries.
With Ottawa’s assets and the needs of the 21st century which will be driven by a knowledge based global economy, the City’s economic development framework to support continued economic growth and diversification comprises four key areas of focus that each encompass key economic sectors. The following highlights each of these four focus areas and some of their key elements:
1. Knowledge Based Business Sector.
Diversifying and growing the City’s knowledge based industry ecosystem is the primary area of focus for growing and diversifying Ottawa’s economy. Key elements of this sector include private knowledge based business, government related institutions and agencies that relate to and/or support knowledge based industries, the diplomatic community and NGO’s with their connections to international knowledge based industries, post secondary institutions, and hospitals. Many of the initiatives set out in the City’s current Economic Development Strategy focus on strengthening and continued diversification of the City’s knowledge based industry ecosystems through continuing support with the City’s key economic development partners including Invest Ottawa (IO), Innovation Centre at Bayview Yards (ICBY), post secondary institutions (PSIs), and other business groups (West Ottawa Board of Trade, Chambers of Commerce, Federal and Provincial economic development agencies) for innovation, entrepreneurships, investment attraction, talent attraction/retention and cluster development.
2. Rural Economic Development
The development of a Rural Economic Development strategy is identified as an initiative in the City’s current Economic Development Strategy. This initiative, while it has not yet been advanced, is important to the City’s overall economic growth given the significant rural area encompassed within the City. An overarching Economic Development Strategy would be focused on supporting and growing rural business opportunities in various sectors (tourism, villages, 400 series highway intersections, and advanced farming technologies) and capitalizing on the interests and opportunities to position Ottawa as a leader in Precision Agriculture and Agri-tech. This would be pursued through the leveraging of the knowledge based industry sector and its relationship to advancing agriculture technology and innovations and area research facilities including the PSIs, NRC and the Federal Department of Agriculture.
3. Tourism and Creative Industries
The Tourism and Creative industries sectors are key to Ottawa’s economy both as their own economic drivers, but also to support the knowledge based sector to grow in a global knowledge based economy. The City has developed a partnership with Ottawa Tourism and supports various creative industry sectors including music and film. To lend further support to the Creative industries in particular, there is an opportunity for a more formalized umbrella partnership with this sector that can complement the city’s existing partnerships with the business community through IO and with the tourism sector through Ottawa Tourism. As part of this umbrella partnership, a vehicle can be established for the City to work with the creative industries sector stakeholders (music, film, digital media, fine arts, cultural groups) for capitalizing on synergistic opportunities for the coordinated growth of the creative industries sector to enhance the economic contributions of the sector to the City’s economic growth and diversification. A focus on this sector to enhance the quality of life and offerings would support the continued growth of the tourism industry and supports positioning Ottawa to be able to successfully compete in attracting business and investment in the current global economy.
4. Urban Services (Small and Medium Enterprises - retail, service and construction)
The knowledge based industries (including government), rural economic development and tourism and creative industries are the primary drivers for the City’s economic growth and economic diversification. The fourth key economic sector is the sector that results from growth to provide the ongoing support for the activity and life of the city. This sector comprising mostly small and medium enterprises and some large support industries includes retail, construction, utilities and service (legal, finance, insurance, real estate, etc.) industries that residents and local business rely on to support day to day living, day to day operations of businesses and the building of the City. This sector is critical to the overall economic health of Ottawa, but does not for the most part drive the City’s growth. The one exception would be major public infrastructure investment such as the City’s LRT which is a key driver supporting growth. Rather this sector grows to respond to the city’s growth. The alignment of planning with ED provides for this sector to factor more prominently in aligning needs to support and accommodate growth of both the City and its economy.
B. Key Economic Development Initiatives for 2017 and 2018
Alignment of Planning and ED
The corporate realignment undertaken in 2016 with the positioning of ED within a Branch in the PIED department that is also focused on long range planning has set the stage for ED to be a key element of setting the stage for the continued growth and development of the City into the 21st century. The future of cities is very much tied to the ability of cities to continue to grow and develop within a global marketplace which necessitates aligning planning and economic development as a singular focus where the directions set out for the physical growth of the city aligns with the needs to support economic growth and diversification. Within this framework, planning policy directions would be developed that support this alignment and the ED group would become more engaged with planning activity, including participating in developing planning policy, participating in advancing significant development initiatives that have a strong economic development opportunity for the City, and working with economic development business stakeholders, private sector development interests, and key land and building owners to build bridges and communication lines amongst these groups that will support business growth and development.
Partnerships for Innovation Priorities
To advance realizing the opportunities for continued economic growth and diversification within the key focus areas discussed, Economic Development is reframing the priorities and focus of the initiatives from the Partnerships for Innovation Economic Development Strategy up-date. Those that have proven to be valuable and important and that align with key focus areas for economic development growth and diversification will continue to be advanced while those that have proven to exhibit marginal benefit or are outside the focus to advance the key initiatives to support the focus areas are being discontinued. Document 2 details how retained initiatives will be reframed and identifies those that will not be advanced to ensure resources can be appropriately aligned to those initiatives that will support the key focus area discussed.
New and Reframed Partnerships
The reframing of the priorities that will be continued to be advanced as detailed in Document 2 will be to support and move forward with a renewed role for the City’s Economic Development Branch for 2017 and moving into 2018 that is focused on strengthening and reframing current partnerships with IO and Ottawa Tourism to have their strategic plan initiatives align with the City’s focus areas and pursuing new partnerships to advance the focus areas for continued economic development growth and diversification. Within this role, the City will provide the strategic framework for growing and diversifying the City’s economy around the focus areas discussed and ensure that the various initiatives being advanced through the city’s partners are complimentary and that they work together to be mutually supportive. This recognizes that the City is uniquely positioned to play this role with the City relying on the expertise of its partners to deliver on the initiatives that will support continued economic development growth and diversification. The following highlights the reframed and new partnerships that will be advanced by the economic development branch during the remainder of this term of council to set the stage for defining economic development priorities for the next term of council.
Invest Ottawa
IO is embarking on a new strategic plan to set the stage for their continued efforts in advancing the growth of the knowledge based industry sector including investment attraction and business growth as well as efforts to support innovation, entrepreneurs and new start ups within the framework of the Innovation Center and through the merging of IO and ICBY. Being a key funder for IO, the City will be participating directly with IO in the development of their up-dated strategic plan to align with the City’s economic development priorities for growing the City’s knowledge based industry sector and ecosystem to capitalize on the opportunities under the key focus areas previously discussed and to improve supports for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs).
Ottawa Tourism
Ottawa Tourism is the City’s key partner in growing tourism and exposure for Ottawa on the global stage. Ottawa Tourism has recently approved a new strategic plan that is focused on growing the tourist industry and positioning Ottawa Tourism as a world leader in destination marketing. The City will be a key partner with Ottawa Tourism in advancing and realizing the strategic directions set out in the Strategic Plan. One of the key areas of direct support that will continue is the financial and logistical support provided by the City for the major events office within Ottawa Tourism. This support includes annual funding by the City for the major events office to bid, win and host more major events.
In addition, Economic Development will continue to support Ottawa Tourism in their long term destination development efforts. Two areas that Economic Development is currently supporting include place branding and wayfinding. Economic Development will also continue to engage with Ottawa Tourism to share tourism related data as well as develop rural tourism and the City’s music strategy.
Creative Industries (film, music, arts and culture)
The City through Economic Development in combination with the Cultural Services in Parks and Recreation has been involved in supporting various elements of the creative industries sector, however, this support has not been positioned through a singular umbrella structure that leverages the synergistic relationships between the various creative industries groups and that may be able to provide a common framework of support within a similar framework to that of IO and ICBY in supporting the growth of the City’s knowledge based industry sector and its ecosystem. Establishing an umbrella organization and having the group accommodated in a central location where mutual supports and opportunities for growth and integration of different interests amongst the sectors can be nurtured is a key priority for continuing to support the city’s economic growth, not only in these sectors, but to support and position the City as the preferred location for investors looking to set up businesses. This is in recognition that cities, to successfully compete on the global stage for economic growth, need to position themselves as being unique and distinct with respect to the quality of life that is offered. The Creative Industries sector is critical in this regard.
Priority initiatives currently being pursued and that will serve to set the stage for establishing an umbrella organization include the development of a music strategy, and establishing Ottawa’s film office as a non-profit corporation and looking for opportunities to develop a self-sustaining funding model for the film office to become a business. Over the course of 2017 and into 2018, other possible groups that could fit within a creative industries umbrella will be confirmed and opportunities for establishing a governance framework and for co-locating these groups will be pursued to provide the City a third partner group that is focused on advancing the creative industries sector both as its own economic development driver, but also a key support for advancing other economic development objectives including business attraction and retention and tourism development. The creative industries work will be supported by the Ottawa Culture Research Group and data partnership initiative discussed further in Document 2.
Talent Committee
The Education and Economy Summit held in October 2016 laid a strong foundation for ongoing collaboration between local school boards, post-secondary institutions, government and private sector partners, NGOs, and students. The key initiative to be pursued is to provide for establishing a formalized group of partners to discuss and facilitate collaboration on issues related to education, skills development and employment. Currently these discussions are occurring within different forums with no focused integration between or amongst the initiatives being pursued by different groups. The establishment of a Talent Committee will build on and provide a platform for integrating the following initiatives being pursued by various groups:
• G33 (Economic Development Stakeholder Collaboration Group) – Talent Task Force and Work integrated learning pledge
• City of Ottawa student employment programs
• Invest Ottawa – Marketing campaign – work in Ottawa Initiative
• LEPC (Local Employment Planning Council)
• Career pathway tool
• Inventory of mentorship programs
• Online data base to share up-to-date postings
• Magnet job matching network
Such a group would also provide opportunities for identifying new initiatives for improving alignments between education and business to support talent growth and talent retention. Economic Development staff will work with existing groups to formally establish a Talent Committee in 2017.
Incorporating new business lines
As previously stated, following the change in the City’s organizational structure, Economic Development assumed the Research and Forecasting, Sponsorship and Advertising, Markets Management and Rural Affairs business lines. Document 3 contains a detailed overview of the work that will be continued by these units in 2017 as well as new work that will be pursued.
At a high level, the focus of the work to be undertaken is to:
• Rebuild the rural affairs to continue as the center of expertise for rural affairs and the portal into the City for rural issues and to grow and strengthen relationships and partnerships with the rural community to develop and advance rural economic development. Rural affairs will focus on activities such as developing Precision Agriculture and Agri Tech.
• Refocus the work of the research and forecasting unit to augment their role in supporting long range planning with research functions that will support economic development through monitoring, tracking and forecasting of economic trends and opportunities that can be made available to the City’s economic development partners.
• Assessing the business case for the advertising and sponsorship group and determine if opportunities can be found to have a more strategic focus for advertising and sponsorship opportunities that would support advancing the City’s economic development agenda.
• Transition of Markets Management to a Municipal Services Corporation as approved by Council on April 12, 2017.
RURAL IMPLICATIONS
There are a number of initiatives within Partnerships for Innovation that could have a positive impact on Ottawa’s rural economy.
CONSULTATION
The development of Partnerships for Innovation was done in consultation with a variety of internal and external stakeholders. Feedback from these stakeholders was incorporated into the four-year strategy which reflects Ottawa’s economic needs and priorities.
COMMENTS BY THE WARD COUNCILLORS
City-wide – not applicable.
LEGAL IMPLICATIONS
There are no legal impediments to approving the recommendations in this report.
RISK MANAGEMENT IMPLICATIONS
There are no significant risks in proceeding with the proposed 2017 Implementation Plan, as described in this report. Both the strategy, Partnerships for Innovation, and its implementation provide a proactive approach to economic development that allocates resources and efforts towards the programs, services, and initiatives that provide optimum benefits to Ottawa’s economic development stakeholders and economy.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
The 2017 Economic Development Priorities and Work Plan will be completed within existing resources. Any additional funding requirements identified through these initiatives will be brought forward through a future budget process.
ACCESSIBILITY IMPACTS
Accessibility would be considered in the implementation of all initiatives contained in the Economic Development Strategy Update 2015-2018. All communication materials resulting as part of any of the initiatives are available in accessible formats.
TERM OF COUNCIL PRIORITIES
The recommendations in this report support the following strategic priority of City Council:
Economic Prosperity (EP) – Use Ottawa’s unique combination of recreational, social, cultural and business assets, and natural environment and physical infrastructure to attract enterprises, visitors and new residents, while at the same time developing and retaining local firms and talent.
Specifically, it delivers on the strategic initiative to “Renew and Implement Economic Development Strategy” which supports the strategic objective of EP2-“Support growth of local economy.”
SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION
Document 1 2016 Strategy Implementation Up-date and Accomplishments
Document 2 Dashboard – Strategy Initiatives to Be Continued/Pursued and Discontinued in 2017/2018
Document 3 New Economic Development Business Lines
DISPOSITION
Economic Development Services will action any direction received from Council with respect to the implementation of the Economic Development Strategy Update 20152018.
Document 1 – 2016 Strategy Implementation Up-date and Accomplishments
Initiative
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Key Accomplishments
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Investment Attraction and Business Retention Pillar
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Invest Ottawa
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• In its role as an arm’s length organization of the city, delivered collaborative economic development programs in the areas of entrepreneurship, business incubation services, commercialization, targeted sector development, investment attraction, business retention, expansion, and global trade development.
• Relocated into the Innovation Centre at Bayview Yards in November as its primary tenant.
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Ottawa Film Office (OFO)
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• Provided support to Ottawa Film Office who issued 378 parking and film permits and logged 828 filming days.
• Conducted an environmental scan of film friendly policies to inform future policy development.
• Established a refreshed MOU for 2017 to support the film office transitioning to a non-profit corporation.
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Community Improvement Plans (CIPs)
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• Continued the manage the CIP for Orleans and one for a portion of Carling Avenue, both of which will be in effect until 2018.
• Implemented a CIP for Bells Corners which will be in effect until 2021.
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Capital Investment Track (CIT)
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• Continued to guide strategic investment projects through City requirements and processes, such as planning and building code, in a timely and efficient manner.
• Completed three CIT projects representing approximately $80 million in investment and resulting in approximately 650 new jobs.
• Initiated a review of the CIT program recognizing that the concierge program developed and rolled out by the former Planning and Growth Management Department was providing a duplicate service.
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China Engagement
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• Managed the Sister City relationship with Beijing.
• Coordinated all China engagement activities on behalf of the City.
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India Trade Mission
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• Led and supported the Team Ottawa Trade Mission to India which resulted in Memoranda of Understandings, strategic partnerships and mutually beneficial agreements between Ottawa companies and their Indian counterparts totaling over $80 million.
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Capital Business Connect (CBC)
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• Complimented services offered by Invest Ottawa which provide Ottawa’s diplomatic community and foreign investors with the business resources and referrals required to start or expand business operations in Ottawa.
• Hosted a City tour in May for 60 guests from the diplomatic community.
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Education and Economy Summit
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• Provided a forum for stakeholders from across Ottawa to discuss how they can better work together to generate more work-integrated learning opportunities for students, better access to talent for employers and ultimately, long-term prosperity for the City.
• Attended by nearly 250 representatives from the education sector, government, and local business community.
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Kanata Technology Hub Promotion
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• Assisted the Kanata North BIA in organizing an information session for Members of Council on the economic impacts of the Kanata North Technology Park.
• Provided funding to support the Kanata North Business Improvement Area (BIA) annual career fair, TechNATA, as well as their International Tour and Dinner Event.
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Music Industry Support
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• Continued to support and work in collaboration with Cultural Services to identify and implement industry support initiatives.
|
Business Outreach
|
• Assisted 27 businesses in understanding key impediments to growth and offered support through connections to programs, business service providers and potential business opportunities.
• Organized four business site visits for the Mayor which aim to show support to Ottawa companies, celebrate their successes and hear their perspectives on the Ottawa economy.
|
G33 Collaboration Group
|
• Confirmed two priority areas of focus to be advanced in 2017 – Place Branding and Talent.
• Future role of the G33 to be reviewed within the context of the directions that will be pursued by the City in setting the stage for economic development priorities for the next term of Council.
|
Smart Cities
|
• Provided an information report to the Finance and Economic Development Committee in Q2 2016 recommending the Committee be assigned governance over Smart City initiatives and directing Economic Development staff to provide subsequent updates.
• FEDC approved a motion in Q4 2016 appointing Councillor’s Harder, Tierney and Hubley as Councillor sponsors for the Smart City file.
|
Entrepreneurship Pillar
|
|
Innovation Centre at Bayview Yards (ICBY)
|
• Supported the completion of the ICBY on time and on budget in Q4 2016.
• Pursued designation of the ICBY as a Municipal Capital Facility.
• Supported the Board of Directors in recruiting an interim managing Director and start-up staff.
• Assisted in securing tenant lease agreements for 90% of the leasable space.
• Secured $8 million from the Federal Economic Development Agency of Southern Ontario to support resource development in digital media, advanced manufacturing, and cyber security.
• It is expected that ICBY will bring new business to City, while also connecting Ottawa to new R&D, business and community development opportunities across Canada and around the world. Many of ICBY’s tenants and program delivery partners help entrepreneurs ‘go global’ and generate international revenues that build our local economy.
|
Business Improvement Areas (BIAs)
|
• Continued to support BIAs as well as the Ottawa Council of BIAs (OCOBIA) in its day-to-day activities with a particular focus on promoting collaboration between OCOBIA and other City departments.
• Supported the Downtown Rideau and Westboro Village BIA expansion efforts.
• Led the Sparks Street Mall Authority and BIA Governance Review.
• Supported the initiation of the Kanata Central BIA formation process.
• Provided $120,000 to local BIAs to support research and beautification activities.
|
Chambers and Boards of Trade
|
• Represented the City on the Economic Development Sub-committees of the Ottawa Chamber of Commerce, Orleans Chamber of Commerce and West Ottawa Board of Trade.
• Provided assistance with economic metrics and statistics.
• Assisted with issues resolution and supported the development of collaborative relationships with economic development stakeholders.
|
Immigrant Entrepreneur Awards (IEA)
|
• Received seventeen applications for the 2016 IEA – the fifth year for the awards.
• Presented the coveted award to four highly accomplished Ottawa entrepreneurs from diverse backgrounds.
|
Innovation Pilot Program (IPP)
|
• Continued to provide an opportunity for innovative companies to pilot new technologies, products and services within various City of Ottawa Departments and with external municipal partners.
• Over 80 applications have been received since the launch of the IPP and 16 local companies were selected to test pilot their products in 2016.
|
Tourism Development Pillar
|
|
Events Ottawa
|
• Hosted twelve major events including the Tim Hortons Briar, Global Relay Canadian Road Cycling Championships, Canadian Triathlon Championships and UFC, generating close to $22 million in local economic impact.
• Bid on and secured eleven major events for 2017 including the 2017 Davis Cup, 2017 Grey Cup and 2017 Canadian Ultimate Championships.
|
Rural and Bicycle Tourism
|
• Developed 9 rural cycling routes with rural business connections highlighted enroute.
• Worked with Transportation Planning to develop 6 urban cycling routes as part of a Bike Tourism network.
|
2021 Canada Summer Games Bid
|
• Supported all aspects of the bid process including providing a report to Committee and Council in Q4 2016 with an update on the City’s bid for the 2021 Games and seeking Council approval of the standards and commitments required by the bid.
• Gained invaluable experience in bid submission that will benefit future bid opportunities.
|
Tourism Investment Attraction
|
• Continued to collaborate with Ottawa Tourism and the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport to attract potential entertainment-themed tourism attractions.
• Conducted client tours and attended the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions annual trade show.
|
Tourism Summit
|
• Brought together the City’s tourism stakeholders for a one-day session to jointly define and commit to long-term growth strategies for Ottawa’s hospitality and tourism sector beyond 2017.
• Planned and executed the sold-out event which hosted 281 representatives from the tourism industry, local business community and government.
|
House of Sport
|
• Supported the development of the House of Sport, an innovative, collaborative and connected sport community that will bring Canada’s National Sports Organizations under one roof so that they may benefit from economies of scale and efficiencies by sharing common elements and resources.
• Contributed $500,000 from approved capital budget.
|
Research and Information Tools Pillar
|
|
Research Reports
|
• Provided information and analysis on the local economy with the production of monthly economic update reports.
• Examined trends in Ottawa’s labour market, consumer prices, housing statistics, new home sales and construction.
• Due to staff adjustments resulting from the organizational re-alignment, the development of the research reports was put on hold and will be launched in 2017 as quarterly reports.
|
Annual Economic Outlook Event
|
• Partnered with Ottawa Business Events for this fifth annual event which provided nearly 300 local business and community leaders with an in-depth analysis of Ottawa’s economy and examined trends and opportunities in the City’s business sector.
|
Information Sessions
|
• Hosted four information sessions for internal City staff on a variety of topics relevant to Ottawa’s economic development landscape.
|
Document 2 – Dashboard – Strategy Initiatives to Be Continued/Pursued and Discontinued in 2017/2018
Investment Attraction and Business Expansion and Retention Pillar
Initiative
|
Underway
|
Not Started
|
One time events
|
Activities/Comments
|
|
Continue
|
Discontinue
|
Start
|
Do not start
|
Completed
|
Not to be undertaken
|
|
Invest Ottawa (IO)
|
X
|
|
|
|
|
|
• IO will continue to offer start-up and entrepreneurial support services, provide supports to existing businesses to grow locally and in external markets and to attract foreign businesses to set up offices in Ottawa and support the business community in hiring local talent.
• IO and ICBY will merge and in partnership with the City will develop a new strategic plan in 2017 that will provide a more strategic focus for IO supported Economic Development initiatives including support for SMEs.
|
Increase Invest Ottawa Funding
|
X
|
|
|
|
|
|
• The IO budget is reviewed annually against the operating plan developed by IO each year. As part of the refocus of IO through their new strategic plan, opportunities and needs for increased funding to support IO in raising awareness of Ottawa in key markets, retaining and attracting top talent and supporting SME’s will be determined as part of future budget cycles.
|
Small and Medium Sized Enterprise (SMEs) Development
|
|
|
X
|
|
|
|
• Working with IO to explore and roll out initiatives geared to supporting SMEs in 2017 and beyond in recognition of the significant value provided by SME’s to the economy related to diversification, entrepreneurship and innovation.
|
Ottawa Film Office (OFO)
|
X
|
|
|
|
|
|
• Supporting the transition of the OFO to an independent non-profit corporation to better serve clients and provide a more focused service offering to the film industry.
• Recruiting Board members with expertise in business development, funding partnerships, and community building for a newly created Board of Management for the non-profit corporation.
• Supporting the OFO with this organizational change and providing assistance in developing and implementing a business plan to diversify its sources of funding and expand the services of the OFO to Gatineau.
|
Community Improvement Plans (CIPs)
|
X
|
|
|
|
|
|
• Continuing to administer current CIPs – Carling, Orleans and Bells Corners that included the development of a brochure, application and webpage to market the Bells Corners CIP.
• Investigating the potential for a CIP for Montreal Road between North River Road and the Aviation Parkway and for Merivale Road between Carling and Kirkwood as part of an ongoing CDP.
|
Capital Investment Track (CIT)
|
|
X
|
|
|
|
|
• The CIT program was established as a concierge program to guide strategic investment projects through City requirements and processes, such as planning and building code, in a timely and efficient manner. With the concierge program that has been developed and rolled out by the former Planning and Growth Management Department, there exists duplication between the two programs.
• The current CIT program will be discontinued with Economic Development assuming the role of ensuring economic development objectives stemming from significant projects will be realized. This could involve the planners in this group processing such applications or being part of a project team focused on trouble shooting issues.
|
China Engagement
|
X
|
|
|
|
|
|
• With support of the City’s Protocol Office, ED will continue to coordinate China engagement activities.
|
Rural Economic Development
|
|
|
X
|
|
|
|
• With the Rural Affairs office now embedded within the Economic Development group, an opportunity exists to begin work on developing a robust Economic Development strategy for the rural area. This is a priority initiative to be pursued by Economic Development and would include advancing Agri tech and precision agriculture opportunities as a new technological focus for the City, further developing rural tourism to build on some rural tourism initiatives launched by Ottawa tourism, etc.
|
Trade Delegations
|
X
|
|
|
|
|
|
• Continue to receive international delegations and trade missions of political and business nature and participate in trade missions.
|
Site Selector Engagement
|
|
|
X
|
|
|
|
• Developing and begin implementation of a Site Selector Engagement Strategy.
• The strategy will promote pre-identified investment opportunities and available office space to businesses, investors and tourism attraction owners and operators.
• The Strategy is expected to be developed to support marketing of vacant commercial office space and employment lands.
|
Commercial Vacancy and Employment Lands Marketing
|
|
|
X
|
|
|
|
• Economic Development will partner with IO to develop a strategy for marketing vacant commercial space and employment lands potentially as part of the site selector engagement.
• The strategy will strategically promote, market and facilitate the occupancy of vacant commercial space and development of employment lands in accordance with the strategy.
|
Capital Business Connect (CBC)
|
|
X
|
|
|
|
|
• IO is best suited to lead CBC activities including connecting and servicing embassies.
• Economic Development will work with IO to transition this function to IO and discontinue the City leading this program.
|
Business Outreach
|
|
X
|
|
|
|
|
• Staff will no longer meet one-on-one with businesses to provide strategic advice, information, and resources but will remain available to provide assistance upon request.
• Economic Development will continue to organize monthly business visits for the Mayor.
|
Education and Economy (EE) Summit
|
|
|
|
|
X
|
|
• A primary outcome of the EE summit is the development a Talent Committee as discussed below.
|
Talent Attraction
|
|
|
X
|
|
|
|
• The Talent file will be a key file for 2017 and beyond. Flowing from the EE summit, Economic Development will be working with key stakeholders to establish a Talent Committee to better link educational institutions with the business community to support talent development and retention.
|
Music Industry Support
|
X
|
|
|
|
|
|
• This initiative was initially focused on Economic Development supporting Cultural Services in the development of a City-wide music strategy.
• Work on developing this strategy is progressing, however, this work is also now being positioned to explore with other creative industries groups (Film Office, Music, Culture, artists) the establishment of a creative industries partner organization and possibly a creative industries hub similar to the ICBY and House of sport that would assist the City and its various Economic Development partners in developing the creative industries sector.
|
Kanata Technology Hub
|
X
|
|
|
|
|
|
• Economic Development will continue to leverage and promote the Kanata Technology Hub in 2017 in partnership with Invest Ottawa.
|
G33 Collaboration Group
|
X
|
|
|
|
|
|
• Economic Development will advance the Talent and Place-Branding Strategies and reassess the role and mandate of the Group.
|
Entrepreneurship Pillar
Initiative
|
Underway
|
Not Started
|
One time events
|
Activities/Comments
|
|
Continue
|
Discontinue
|
Start
|
Do not start
|
Completed
|
Not to be undertaken
|
|
Innovation Centre at Bayview Yards (ICBY)
|
X
|
|
|
|
|
|
• Economic Development will support the merger of ICBY with IO to streamline services, optimize shared resources and develop a new strategic plan (see comments under IO above).
• Participation in the development of a business plan for Phase 2 of the ICBY to determine the feasibility of adding an additional 180,000 square feet of office space and examine the directions for the Bayview Secondary Plan to consider refocusing the Bayview Lands as an innovation hub for the city.
|
Community Economic Development (CED)
|
X
|
|
|
|
|
|
• Continue to provide funding through the CED grant program to economic development projects that also demonstrate environmental, social and/or cultural benefits for the community.
|
Business Improvement Areas (BIAs)
|
X
|
|
|
|
|
|
• Continue to advance, address and facilitate the resolution of municipally related issues for BIAs as well as for the Ottawa Council of BIAs (OCOBIA).
• Champion the role of BIAs to other City departments and bridge any existing gaps.
|
Chambers and Boards of Trade
|
X
|
|
|
|
|
|
• Continue liaising with the Chambers and Board of Trade through city representation on the Economic Development Sub-committees of the Ottawa Chamber of Commerce, Orleans Chamber of Commerce and West Ottawa Board of Trade.
• Provide assistance to the Ottawa Chambers and West Ottawa Board of Trade where possible.
|
RFP Matchmaking
|
X
|
|
|
|
|
|
• Continue to supply IO with new procurement opportunities on a monthly basis.
|
VENUS (Virtual Environment for Networks for Ubiquitous Security) Cybersecurity
|
|
|
|
X
|
|
|
• Due to the realignment and refocusing of priorities, Economic Development will not be advancing this initiative in 2017 but will continue to look for opportunities to have this advanced through partner groups such as IO.
|
Immigrant Entrepreneur Awards (IEA)
|
X
|
|
|
|
|
|
• Retain the program and commence the IEA nomination process to seek out outstanding local business success stories to be recognized in Canada’s sesquicentennial year.
|
Innovation Pilot Program
|
X
|
|
|
|
|
|
• Continue to provide an opportunity for innovative companies to pilot new technologies, products and services within various City of Ottawa Departments and with external municipal partners.
|
Central Mentoring Database
|
|
|
|
X
|
|
|
• With the realignment and refocusing of priorities, Economic Development will address issues of talent through the development of a Talent Committee.
|
Innovation Academy
|
|
|
|
X
|
|
|
• With the realignment and refocusing of priorities, Economic Development will not be pursuing the Innovation Academy in 2017.
|
Tourism Development Pillar
Initiative
|
Underway
|
Not Started
|
One time events
|
Activities/Comments
|
|
Continue
|
Discontinue
|
Start
|
Do not start
|
Completed
|
Not to be undertaken
|
|
Events Ottawa
|
X
|
|
|
|
|
|
• Continue to work with the Major Events Office in Ottawa Tourism to deliver on the mandate of attracting major sporting and cultural events to Ottawa, develop the City as “Canada’s Event Capital Brand” and enhance long-term relationships with key national and international sports federations.
|
Ottawa 2017
|
|
|
|
|
X
|
|
• Economic Development supported the creation of Celebrations Ottawa Inc – the organization responsible for the development implementation of celebratory plans for Canada’s 150th anniversary of Confederation.
• Economic Development will continue to support the terms and conditions of the City/COI funding agreement and will work with COI to assess legacy events and opportunities to transition these in years to come.
|
Sports Commissioner
|
X
|
|
|
|
|
|
• Councillor Mitic will continue to serve as Ottawa’s Sports Commissioner and will represent the City on large-scale sporting bid attraction efforts undertaken in partnership with Ottawa Tourism.
|
House of Sport
|
|
|
|
|
X
|
|
• Economic Development through Ottawa Tourism supported the establishment of the House of Sport which is expected to be fully operational with all space leased in 2017.
|
Curling Centre of Excellence
|
|
|
|
X
|
|
|
• Due to the realignment and refocusing of priorities, Economic Development will not be pursuing the development of a Curling Centre of Excellence in 2017.
|
Tourism Investment Attraction
|
X
|
|
|
|
|
|
• Continue to collaborate with Ottawa Tourism and the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport to attract potential entertainment-themed tourism attractions.
|
Tourism Summit
|
|
|
|
|
X
|
|
• Tourism Summit was held in 2016 and identified long-term growth strategies for Ottawa’s hospitality and tourism sector that Economic Development will support Ottawa Tourism and other tourism stakeholders in implementing.
|
Bicycle Tourism Development
|
X
|
|
|
|
|
|
• Continue partnering with Ottawa Tourism to promote the nine rural and six urban cycling routes developed in 2016.
|
International Convention Attraction
|
X
|
|
|
|
|
|
• Continue to support international convention attraction through membership on the International Convention Attraction Committee which includes Ottawa Tourism, the Shaw Centre and the Ottawa Gatineau Hotel Association.
|
Government Study Tours
|
|
|
|
X
|
|
|
• Due to the realignment and refocusing of priorities, Economic Development will not be pursuing the Government Study Tour Program in 2017.
|
Research and Information Tools Pillar
Initiative
|
Underway
|
Not Started
|
One time events
|
Activities/Comments
|
|
Continue
|
Discontinue
|
Start
|
Do not start
|
Completed
|
Not to be undertaken
|
|
White Papers, Economic Impact Studies and Research Reports
|
X
|
|
|
|
|
|
• White papers, economic impact studies and research reports will continue to be completed as needed to inform the feasibility, costs and return on investment of various initiatives.
|
Quarterly Economic Updates
|
X
|
|
|
|
|
|
• The Research and Forecasting Unit will assume responsibility for the provision of economic metrics and statistics on a quarterly basis.
|
Annual Economic Outlook Event
|
X
|
|
|
|
|
|
• Continue to deliver the annual Economic Outlook Event in partnership with an external service provider.
• New event formats and themes will be explored in an effort to keep the event informative and relevant.
|
Locate Ottawa
|
X
|
|
|
|
|
|
• Economic Development will continue to offer, update and maintain Locate Ottawa, an online GIS tool designed to help site selectors, property owners and real estate professionals access property information.
|
Quarterly Tourism Report
|
|
|
|
X
|
|
|
• Due to the realignment and refocusing of priorities, Economic Development will not be pursuing a quarterly tourism report in 2017.
|
Quarterly Commercial Real Estate Report
|
|
|
|
X
|
|
|
• Some metrics are proposed to be incorporated into the Quarterly Economic Updates. Links to existing industry quarterly reports can be provided for seamless access for other information.
|
Quarterly BIA Snapshot
|
|
|
|
X
|
|
|
• Due to the realignment and refocusing of priorities, Economic Development will not be pursuing a Quarterly BIA Snapshot in 2017.
|
Innovation Index
|
|
|
X
|
|
|
|
• The feasibility of a local index will be investigated in 2017.
|
Data Partnership
|
|
|
X
|
|
|
|
• For 2017 the Research and Forecasting Unit will collaborate with the Ottawa Culture Research Group to re-focus cultural data that supports the Creative Industries initiatives.
|
Knowledge-Based Research Assets and Inventory
|
|
|
|
X
|
|
|
• To be combined with the PSI initiative as discussed below.
|
New Initiatives being pursued that Respond to Opportunities and Needs
Initiative
|
Underway
|
Not Started
|
One time events
|
Activities/Comments
|
|
Continue
|
Discontinue
|
Start
|
Do not start
|
Completed
|
Not to be undertaken
|
|
Smart Cities
|
X
|
|
|
|
|
|
• Economic Development is partnering with IO and the City’s Service Innovation and Performance Department on the development of a Smart City Strategy and is consulting with key stakeholders.
• Economic Development will provide a report to Committee and Council in Q4 2017 on the proposed Strategy.
|
Connected and Autonomous Vehicles
|
X
|
|
|
|
|
|
• Economic Development is supporting the City in becoming a Centre of Excellence for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles.
• Economic Development is providing support with developing and launching a connected and Autonomous Vehicle test loop in Kanata to be opened in June 2017.
|
Wayfinding Partnership
|
X
|
|
|
|
|
|
• Economic Development will review the feasibility study and recommended strategic process, provided by Ottawa Tourism, for making Ottawa-Gatineau’s wayfinding system consistent and useful.
• Economic Development will provide the findings of the study in a report to Committee and Council in Q3 2017.
|
Post Secondary Institutions (PSIs)
|
|
|
X
|
|
|
|
• As part of the Talent Committee initiative being advanced as a follow up to the EE summit, Economic Development will align PSIs to meet business needs, support talent retention, drive innovation, provide integrated work opportunities and support new start ups.
|
Health Sciences
|
|
|
X
|
|
|
|
• Economic Development will work with the Ottawa Hospital and IO to identify opportunities to grow the health sciences sector and raise the profile of health sciences research and innovation internationally as part of the new Civic Hospital Campus Development.
|
Creative Industries Group & Hub
|
|
|
X
|
|
|
|
• Work will be undertaken to explore with other creative industries groups (Film Office, Music, Culture, artists) the establishment of a creative industries partner organization and possibly a creative industries hub similar to the ICBY and House of sport that would assist the City and its various Economic Development partners in developing the creative industries sector.
|
Document 3 – New Economic Development Business Lines
Business Line
|
Description
|
Activities
|
Rural Affairs Office
|
The Rural Affairs Office continues as the centre of expertise for rural affairs and the portal into the City for rural issues. The Office focuses on growing and strengthening relationships and partnerships with the rural community to develop and advance rural economic development.
|
• Deliver existing programs including the administration of two grant programs, the oversight of numerous Provincial programs, the development of rural policy, as well as the execution of high-profile events such as the Mayor’s Expo.
• Support the interests of rural residents, businesses and stakeholders, through issue resolution, a monthly rural newsletter and the City’s rural website.
• Leverage current economic development programs and expertise with a specific focus on rural businesses and stakeholders (i.e. expand and tailor the Business Outreach Program and Site Selector Program).
• Develop a rural economic development action plan that includes an economic analysis of Ottawa’s rural economy, best practice research, tailored consultation and proposed initiatives that align both with immerging opportunities and impediments to growth.
• Support development of Precision Agriculture as a key Rural Economic Development initiative.
|
Research and Forecasting
|
The Research and Forecasting Unit supports long range planning and economic development with planning related research and forecasting being augmented with research functions such as monitoring, tracking and dissemination of economic trends and opportunities.
|
• Provide background and monitoring information in relation to the Provincial Policy Statement, City’s Official Plan with the Vacant Urban Residential Land Survey, Rural Residential Land Survey and Annual Development Report .
• Provide a supporting role for various planning studies and initiatives throughout Planning, Infrastructure and Economic Development, such as Development Charges, Community Development Plans and Official Plan reviews.
• Complete the Employment Survey and the Land Use Survey.
• Monitor, track and disseminate economic trends and opportunities to economic development and corporate partners.
• Assume responsibility for the provision of economic metrics and statistics on a quarterly basis.
|
Sponsorship and Advertising
|
The Sponsorships and Advertising Unit assesses and pursues opportunities for sponsorship and advertising for City Facilities and assets. With this unit now being aligned with Economic Development, the potential to support the City’s economic development agenda through existing and new advertising and sponsorship activities will be explored.
|
• Manage existing contracts with vendors who provide services to clients at City facilities and/or generate revenue.
• Support partners such as Minto and Richcraft in meeting their marketing objectives in City facilities.
• Provide information and assistance to City staff that are seeking and securing sponsorship partners to support their respective programs.
• Provide sponsorship and advertising opportunities to companies that may be interested in partnering with the City.
• Develop competitive bidding opportunities to generate revenue using City assets.
• Develop a business case to determine sponsorship and advertising opportunities that will advance the City’s economic development agenda.
|
Markets Management
|
Markets Management is responsible for the operations and management of the ByWard and Parkdale outdoor markets as a cost-recoverable operation until it is formally established as an MSC in January 2018.
|
• The primary focus of work to be undertaken in 2017 is to affect the transitioning of the Markets Management to a Municipal Services Corporation.
• The Director of Economic Development and Long Range Planning will serve as a member of the MSC Board of Management.
|
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| Title: |
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| Creator: |
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| LastModifiedBy: |
legaultcaa |
| Revision: |
4 |
| LastPrinted: |
2017-05-30T18:22:00Z |
| Created: |
2017-05-30T17:22:00Z |
| Modified: |
2017-06-05T11:51:00Z |
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