Ignite Fredericton’s Vision 2020 Summit Highlights Jobs Creation, Investment Attraction
FREDERICTON–Today’s Vision 2020 Summit brought a report from Ignite Fredericton that 410 direct jobs (156 indirect) and 55 new startups have been created since January 2015.
Ignite Fredericton reported on its own integration with Planet Hatch and Knowledge Park into a single operational organization, as well as an investment attraction strategy, a new export acceleration program and a partnership with the UNB faculty of Business Administration program.
Ignite Fredericton also reported that over a two-year period, 57 new startup companies produced an economic impact in the form of a return on investment for the annual combined municipal contribution of $549,000. According to the report, these companies created 245 jobs and generated economic impact in a number of New Brunswick sectors.
The UNB faculty of Business Administration program will partner with Ignite Fredericton to bring Activator programming into Planet Hatch and enable experiential learning for students.
A new export acceleration program called Export Igniter was launched at the summit. The Igniter, a 12 week program enabling export-ready companies to develop their export strategy to expand to new markets, will start in January 2017. This initiative is being executed in collaboration with UNB, Fredericton Chamber of Commerce, Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters and ONB.
“By identifying our value propositions and packaging our assets including the availability of talent, high research capacity and digital infrastructure, we are well positioned to attract new businesses – in fact we have several exciting opportunities in the queue,” said Ignite Fredericton CEO Larry Shaw.
The summit also introduced an investment attraction toolkit and addressed efforts to attract and retain talent for population growth as well as plans to restart the Fredericton Business Ambassador Program.
The summit wrapped up with a list of priorities to focus on, including the expansion of the Fredericton International Airport, which is currently exceeding capacity.