Fueling the Corridor with Talent

3rd Annual Innovation Corridor Summit

April 29, 2020 | Bingemans | Kitchener, Ontario

What is the Corridor Summit?

Regional connectivity and collaboration fuel success in the modern global economy. Canada’s Innovation Corridor is anchored by the Greater Toronto & Hamilton Area (GTHA) and Waterloo regions – a high growth economic zone in Southern Ontario defined by a dense cluster of advanced manufacturing and technology firms. The long-term goal of the summit is to inform and drive transformational actions that shape the corridor’s future as a world-class region measured by talent, productivity and quality of life.

Overview

As a Corridor, we need to put our world-leading research into action. We used this day of discussion and advocacy to bring together regional experts to explore how to accelerate the growth of Corridor businesses through improved commercialization, collaboration and deployment opportunities. This Summit highlighted both advanced manufacturing and connected/autonomous vehicles. This summit was an initiative of Canada’s Innovation Corridor Business Council, a partnership of leading Chambers of Commerce and Boards of Trade in Southern Ontario.

In order to build global industry leaders in the Corridor, we need to improve collaboration among businesses of all sizes and post-secondary institutions. As interconnected technology becomes more integrated in all stages of manufacturing, companies need to understand how to establish an industry advantage in our region.

This expert panel of leading companies and organizations discussed how they are pushing the envelope on productivity-enhancing technology in manufacturing. The speakers highlighted their successes and provided insight on how to build productive partnerships.

Whether led by post-secondary institutions or innovative companies, research needs to be transformed into products that find customers. While the region features many examples of companies that have made this leap, more can be done to accelerate this process. This expert panel highlighted those success stories and discussed how to overcome barriers and how to bring new products to market.

Researchers and companies across the Corridor are actively collaborating to test and validate connected and autonomous vehicles. As the future of mobility takes shape, it presents the Corridor with two major opportunities: to build the technologies and vehicles for this new era, and to solve the challenges we face moving around the region. This expert panel discussed the growth of the regional ecosystem and how to enable deployment of next-generation vehicles in the Corridor.