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Upcoming consultations will help guide the creation of a “one-stop shop” that will benefit businesses and organizations in the region.
Thanks to funding from the County of Simcoe, Lakehead University is working with the City of Orillia, the Orillia Area Community Development Corporation and the Orillia District Chamber of Commerce to create what’s being called an innovation hub.
It would leverage the expertise of those at Lakehead to help businesses and organizations grow and thrive.
“We bring expertise in research and education. We also bring a very strong focus on community learning,” said Dean Jobin-Bevans, principal of Lakehead’s Orillia campus. “Lakehead has a very vibrant community education mandate.”
That’s why it’s vital that the community be consulted to help shape the new hub.
“Universities and colleges talk about creating academic programming that fits with the needs of the community, but they don’t always consult with the community,” he said.
The public consultation sessions will take place virtually on Nov. 19 at 1 and 5 p.m. More information, including details on registering for the sessions, can be found here.
As stated in a news release from Lakehead, “A key deliverable for the innovation hub will be to develop a sustainable regional initiative in Orillia where the bulk of supporting resources are located.
“The hub will leverage resources from post-secondary institutions, municipalities, professionals, local businesses, investors, entrepreneurial start-ups, cultural groups, and social groups in a collaborative manner.”
The project has been in the works for more than a year. The goal was to have the hub in a physical space. That could still happen, but because of the COVID-19 pandemic, it could start as a virtual hub.
“We don’t want to wait for a post-COVID time to act on some of the visioning,” Jobin-Bevans said.
The goal of the consultation, he said, is to determine gaps in services and to ensure those services aren’t duplicated in the new hub.
“We want to unify services as a one-stop shop,” he said.
It is not yet known when the hub will be operational. A strategic plan will have to be created after consultation has occurred. Jobin-Bevans hopes to have a report ready early in the new year.
He urges the community to take part in the consultation process.
“It’s really important that we have broad-based consultation because we don’t want anybody left out,” he said.
