- Workforce 2019, JOBS WITHOUT PEOPLE! (Grand Ballroom)
In a future of rapid technological change and widespread automation, the determining factor – or crippling limit – to innovation, competitiveness and growth is less likely to be the availability of capital than the existence of a skilled work force. “Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum”
Moderator: Delia Reiche, Director, Middlesex Business Help Centre
Presenters:
- Deb Mountenay, Executive Director, Local Employment Planning Council
- Trudy Button, Regional Coordinator, Ontario Centre for Workforce Innovation
- Gemma Mendez-Smith, Executive Director, Four County Labour Market Planning Board
- Beyond the Final Report – Calibrating the success of BRE Programs (Grand East)
Come and learn how rural communities are implementing Business Retention and Expansion strategies and how they are monitoring and measuring their results.
Moderator: Stephen Morris, Team Lead, Economic Development Resources Unit – Business Development Branch, Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs
Presenters:- Dave Gray, Community Economic Development Officer, Burk’s Falls and Area Community Economic Development
- Wendy Timpano, General, Orillia Community Development Corp.
- In the Rearview – Looking Back at Successful Foreign Direct Investment Attraction (Grand Centre)
Tips, tricks and stories from real FDI projects that were attracted to Ontario.
Moderator:- Bruce Takefman, President, Research Consultants International FDI, Inc.
Presenters:
- Jennifer Patterson,Senior Business Development Consultant, City of Hamilton
- Len Magyar, Development Commissioner, City of Woodstock
- Dan Degazio, Director of Economic Development, City of Welland
- Blair Patacairk, Vice-President, Global Expansion, Invest Ottawa
Presented by Research Consultants International (RCI)
- Putting Ontario’s Small Businesses on the Digital Map (Grand West)
The Digital Main Street Provincial Expansion funded by the Province of Ontario in partnership with the Ontario BIA Association (OBIAA) seeks to help small main street businesses across Ontario improve their adoption of technologies to better promote themselves online, sell online and even run back-office processes online. Every business that wants to participate in the grant must first take an online assessment of their current technology use. Based on the assessment, the business will then develop a Digital Transformation Plan based on a template that will be provided which will detail their goals and what technologies they need to achieve those goals. To help put the plan into action, the business can then apply for a one-time grant of $2,500 to help with the costs of adopting the required technology.With the launch of the Grants Program, we are making Digital Main Street very real. These grants will enable Ontario’s small “main street” businesses to learn how to become more digitally savvy, promoting and selling online; and also using new technologies to help make their operations more efficient. At this session, learn how your Municipality and Businesses can partner to put Ontario’s small businesses on the ‘digital map’ and hear Case Studies on how this project is making Ontario’s Small Businesses digitally savvy.
Moderator: Darren Shock, Economic Development Specialist, Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs
Presenter: Kay Matthews, Executive Director, Ontario BIA Association
January 30
14:00
– 14:45
(45′)
Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel
