Explore progress on objectives related to Goal 2 of the Innisfil Economic Development Strategic Plan: Support for an innovation-enabled economy.

Be a leader in local and regional business retention and expansion by increasing regional collaboration and driving the participation of regional businesses.

Action 20

Upon renewal of the DMZ Innisfil Partnership Agreement, undertake a review of the program, program facilities, and staffing and develop a 5-year strategic approach for Innisfil’s incubator and accelerator programming.

  • Timeline: 2024
  • Status: In Progress
  • Progress: A five-year strategic approach for Innisfil's incubator and accelerator programming has been established and a recommendation to extend the partnership agreement with DMZ was presented to Council in June 2024.
  • Impact: The partnership agreement extension with Toronto Metropolitan University for the DMZ program will be considered through the 2025/2026 Budget process.

Action 21

Develop a marketing plan to promote the DMZ Innisfil program and build awareness. This would include refining DMZ Innisfil’s pitch (who we are, who we serve, our goals and aspirations) in order to promote the incubator on a local and regional level and may also include exploration of new tools which may include, but is not limited to, a business ambassador program.

  • Timeline: 2024
  • Status: Complete
  • Progress: A new video success story campaign was implemented to showcase DMZ Innisfil services through the perspective of founders who have participated in programming. A new DMZ Innisfil pitch deck was created and comprehensive marketing plan was implemented to further generate leads for this program.
  • Impact: As a result of the marketing plan, 78 entrepreneurs submitted applications for the DMZ Innisfil program in 2024. While the implementation of a marketing plan and pitch deck in 2024 are now complete, promotion of the DMZ Innisfil program is ongoing.

Action 22

Increase engagement with minority business leaders, entrepreneurs and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) industry experts to help shape DMZ Innisfil and economic development programming to foster an inclusive and welcoming entrepreneurial ecosystem.

  • Timeline: Ongoing
  • Status: In Progress
  • Progress: In 2024, the Economic Development Team explored new opportunities to ensure Town programming is welcoming an inclusive. This included a review of event attendance, venue accessibility and speaker/panel composition.
  • Impact: As a result of this work, a DMZ Female Founders Panel was hosted at the Collision Conference featuring 1 woman moderator and 4 women founders. The team ensured there was representation of various genders, backgrounds and ages in the recent Shop Innisfil video, and a new lift/elevator was negotiated into the new lease agreement for the DMZ Innisfil second floor offices to improve accessibility.

Action 23

Explore opportunities to diversify revenue generation for DMZ Innisfil. This may include grants, development of a sponsorship partnership prospectus, equity-based programming fees, etc.

  • Timeline: 2024
  • Status: Complete
  • Progress: A new Sponsorship Package was developed to diversify revenue generation for DMZ Innisfil. The Economic Development Team also successfully applied for a number of grants to support programming across the department.
  • Impact: A total of $2,250 in sponsorships was achieved in 2024. The Economic Development Team secured $160,000 in grants.  While this goal was originally set for 2024, efforts to continue to diversify revenue sources will be ongoing.

Action 24

Explore new programming which provides greater support to target sectors.

  • Timeline: This action is targeted to begin in 2026.
  • Status: Not yet initiated.
  • Progress: N/A
  • Impact: Impact to be presented on project completion.

Action 25

Explore funding opportunities for start-up and scale-up businesses, including community improvement programs, technology adoption, connection with other available organizations and funding.

  • Timeline: Ongoing
  • Status: In Progress
  • Progress: The Economic Development Team facilitated a number of referrals to support founders in achieving grants and investments.
  • Impact: Cumulative funding secured by founders totaled $31.3 million by the end of December 2024, representing an increase of $6.6M increase over 2023 (26.7%)

Action 26

Continue to position the Innisfil ideaLAB & Library as a community-hub for entrepreneurship and innovation. Actions and outcomes could include:

  1. Partnering with Georgian College to expand the annual Maker Event to add additional programming for home-based and small-scale entrepreneurial endeavours.
  2. Leveraging programs such as the Digital Media Lab, the Hacker Lab and technology training classes and workshops.
  • Timeline: Ongoing
  • Status: In Progress
  • Progress: In 2024 the Economic Development Team created a new event called "Emerging Entrepreneurs" to support early-stage founders while also highlighting local business support organizations such as the Innisfil IdeaLAB & Library and Georgian College. This year's event was hosted at the Innisfil ideaLAB & Library.
  • Impact: The Emerging Entrepreneurs event featured 4 local speakers and supported 35 attendees. The event received a 100% satisfaction rating overall and 100% of attendees said they are interested in attending future Innisfil Economic Development events.
 Action 27

Continue to promote the services of the Small Business Centre for Barrie, Simcoe County and Orillia, Cookstown Chamber of Commerce, Futurpreneur Canada, Nottawasaga Futures and other partners by supporting opportunities to host business events in Innisfil’s key locations (DMZ Innisfil and Innisfil ideaLAB & Library).

  • Timeline: Ongoing
  • Status: In Progress
  • Progress: In 2024 the Economic Development Team created a new event called "Emerging Entrepreneurs" to support early-stage founders while also highlighting local business support organizations such as the Innisfil IdeaLAB & Library and Georgian College.
  • Impact: The Economic Development Team facilitated 518 referrals to ecosystem partners in 2024.

Provide entrepreneurs and start-ups with supports to move a product from an idea to prototype to commercialization.

Action 28

Map the existing ‘high-growth’ Innisfil businesses within each target sector to better understand the support they require to grow and provide more effective support for these companies.

  • Timeline: This action is targeted to begin in 2025.
  • Status: Not yet initiated.
  • Progress: N/A
  • Impact: Impact to be presented on project completion.

Action 29

Develop programming to educate intrapreneurs within the Town of Innisfil on innovative approaches and best practices for achieving continuous improvement. Explore opportunities to work with local entrepreneurs to pilot new programs, services and technologies through the Town of Innisfil, municipal partners and regional businesses and institutions.

  • Timeline: This action is targeted to begin in 2026.
  • Status: Not yet initiated.
  • Progress: N/A
  • Impact: Impact to be presented on project completion.

Action 30

Undertake an entrepreneurial ecosystem mapping exercise and develop an online database of information for start-ups, entrepreneurs and small business operators. The database will provide information on:

  1. government programs, grants, or other funding sources, mentors or other support networks
  2. consumer needs and preferences, as well as identify areas where there may be unmet demand
  3. programs and services offered regionally
  4. business success stories and profiles 
  • Timeline: 2024
  • Status: In Progress
  • Progress: The Economic Development Team has initiated development of an entrepreneurial journey map and a business success story campaign was implemented highlighting the path to success for local entrepreneurs in the past.
  • Impact: A total of 7 success stories were published in 2024 through a variety of formats including news releases, blog postings, written articles and videos.

Increase InnisfiI's ability to leverage the Town's location with Central Ontario's health hub to attract practitioners, create health care related employment and improve access to health care.

Action 31

Position and market Innisfil as a partner within the ‘regional health cluster’ through development of health care focused webpages and resources. Opportunities exist to continue to attract a range of health care related uses that could include a long-term care facility, supportive community housing, research, education and training facilities, community health uses and related medical office space.

  • Timeline: This action is targeted to begin in 2026.
  • Status: Not yet initiated.
  • Progress: N/A
  • Impact: Impact to be presented on project completion. 

Action 32

Explore new partnerships with key partners in the health and wellness sector to take a collaborative and cohesive approach to investment attraction and innovation in health care.

  • Timeline: Ongoing
  • Status: In Progress
  • Progress: The Economic Development team has been in discussions with key partners as it relates to promoting innovation within the healthcare sector in Innisfil.
  • Impact: Impact to be presented on project completion.