Biotech fund tool in cluster development.The Thunder Bay Thunder Bay, city (1991 pop. 113,946), SW Ont., Canada, on Thunder Bay inlet of Lake Superior. The city was created in 1970 by the amalgamation of the twin cities of Fort William and Port Arthur and two adjoining townships. economic development department is taking a new approach to sustaining and improving the health of the city's economy by instituting a cluster approach for all industry sectors. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Derik Brandt, manager of the tourism and economic development division for Thunder Bay, says the approach marries with the business retention and expansion plan, and is a good fit for creating and sustaining business. "Government plays a supporting role supporting role n → second rôle m supporting role n → ruolo non protagonista to economic development, and the municipality MUNICIPALITY. The body of officers, taken collectively, belonging to a city, who are appointed to manage its affairs and defend its interests. is not the economic engine of the community, the private sector is. Local businesses are one of your important sources of job growth." As part of the cluster approach the ideology is that businesses within the community remain the paramount focus, and therefore more emphasis should be placed on refining refining, any of various processes for separating impurities from crude or semifinished materials. It includes the finer processes of metallurgy, the fractional distillation of petroleum into its commercial products, and the purifying of cane, beet, and maple sugar the elements within the industry sectors, Brandt explains. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The plan calls for more communication and relationship building among firms, with a greater understanding on how to remain competitive in the global world and a focus on strengthening existing businesses. This is done by developing different policy frameworks and different economic tools to encourage innovation and to assist local businesses. "By creating a competitive cluster you then are able to attract more businesses but you first have to work with the businesses you have," Brandt explains. The committee is targeting four clusters; education and knowledge creation, transportation, forestry and tourism with one economic development officer to oversee each sector. Within the education and knowledge creation sector will be a cluster strategy for biotechnology. That strategy is in its final stages before being released in December, pending council approval. Within it is a tool called the biotechnology fund where a steering committee steer·ing committee n. A committee that sets agendas and schedules of business, as for a legislative body or other assemblage. steering committee Noun will be connecting local firms and research organizations related to biotechnology. Companies, clinics and research organization can then exchange information and start capitalizing on co-operative opportunities to grow as one larger sector. Part of the biotechnology plan includes partnerships with other centres in Northern Ontario Northern Ontario is the part of the province of Ontario which lies north of Lake Huron (including Georgian Bay), the French River and Lake Nipissing. Northern Ontario has a land area of 802,000 km² (310,000 mi²) and constitutes 87% of the land area of Ontario, although it . "Sometimes the funds you need are not that excessive, so one of the things we want to do is undertake a speaker series," he says referring to Sudbury as one of the cities already using this as a means to attract the private sector. Local businesses are able to extract pertinent PERTINENT, evidence. Those facts which tend to prove the allegations of the party offering them, are called pertinent; those which have no such tendency are called impertinent, 8 Toull. n. 22. By pertinent is also meant that which belongs. Willes, 319. information and create innovative techniques to plug into upcoming opportunities. Brandt also says the transportation sector, with its many challenges, poses the greatest opportunity for jobs, "but the interconnectedness interconnectedness (inˈ·ter·k of these different modes of transportation and the firms within it isn't as good as it should be." Therefore it was a challenge to determine initially whether transportation would be considered a sector at all. "We are still coming to terms with how we can pull the whole transportation cluster together." With access to two rail businesses, to the fourth-largest airport in the province, and to the largest inland port The term inland port is used in two different but related ways to mean either a port on an inland waterway or an inland site carrying out some functions of a seaport. As a port on an inland waterway An inland port in Canada, Brandt is looking to develop some opportunities to unite transportation companies. The EDOs in the community will also look at developing a forestry cluster by next year. Part of the economic developer's job will be to act as a "catalyst". Bordering states like Minnesota have been approached by Thunder Bay officials to consider a Minnesota-Duluth and Thunder Bay biotechnology corridor, "but the primary purpose in doing that is to benefit the businesses within the municipal boundaries." Over 2,500 jobs were created in Thunder Bay this year. "Is that the result of our focus of over a year ago on small businesses?" Brandt asks rhetorically rhe·tor·i·cal adj. 1. Of or relating to rhetoric. 2. Characterized by overelaborate or bombastic rhetoric. 3. Used for persuasive effect: a speech punctuated by rhetorical pauses. . "I'd like to think so. It's difficult to measure results of economic development initiatives, but we are seeing a turn around." By KELLY LOUISEIZE Northern Ontario Business Northern Ontario Business is a Canadian magazine, which publishes monthly in Greater Sudbury, Ontario. The magazine covers business news and issues in Northern Ontario. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion