What is your plan to foster innovation in Oakville?
The Oakville Chamber of Commerce is non-partisan and does not endorse any candidate.
Answers for foster innovation
Rob Burton
Great things happen when we work together. Collaboration is a powerful tool and it's at the root of what we can do together to see innovation flourish in Oakville.
The old Post Office building in downtown Oakville has been earmarked for the location of an innovation hub. When repairs and upgrades to the building are completed, the space on its upper floors can become a place for burgeoning start ups to make connections, test ideas and gain access to needed resources.
Exploring partnerships, on projects such as Smart City initiatives with groups like Silicon Haltonwill lead the way to opening opportunities during the renewal of downtown Oakville's Lakeshore Road streetscape. The project would derive benefits from new technologies and local entrepreneurs can gain valuable hands on experience.
Shortly, I plan to announce the Mayor's Innovation Challenge, a competition that will invite individuals, start-up's, small business and others to propose new solutions to overcome local issues like parking, traffic and infrastructure. With the advent of autonomous vehicles on the horizon, our roads and cities will be a different place in the future. Ride sharing is just the beginning. A group of judges will comprise senior Town of Oakville officials as well as experts from Oakville-based businesses who are leaders in R&D and technology. Teams/individuals will make submissions and finalists will have a chance to pitch their concepts to a live audience at Oakville's Centre for the Performing Arts.
Julia Hanna
Becoming a Technological Leader - Not Just a Follower.
As Mayor, it is one of my planning priorities for Oakville to become a leader in SmartCity technologies that improve residents' quality of life and attract high tech jobs to our community. To help accomplish this goal I will harness our local talent and entrepreneurs to form a Technology Advisory Committee to help Oakville jump into the forefront of the adoption of smart technology that will benefit our community.
Free Downtown WiFi & Smart Available Parking Spot Locator App
I will use my position on Council to gain the support needed to have free WiFi installed in the Downtown as part of the upcoming Downtown streetscape renovations and instruct town planners to determine the best way to do the same in other Town centres.
With WiFi-enabled, I will champion smart parking technology (called "smart parking pucks") to be installed so people can find the closest available parking spot through an app on their smart phones. Not only is this a great convenience for people visiting Downtown, but it also sets Oakville on a smart technology path that can attract innovative companies. Stratford is an example of a community already benefiting from attracting innovative companies through WiFi and smart parking puck technology.
John McLaughlin
No response received.
The Oakville Chamber of Commerce released A Roadmap for Business Success, a campaign outlining the Oakville business community’s priorities for the upcoming 2018 municipal election. A Roadmap for Business Success builds off a recent advocacy survey conducted by the Oakville Chamber and provides all candidates running in the municipal election with the four key issues and priorities facing the local business community:
- business competitiveness
- transportation
- recruit and retain talent
- foster innovation
Leading up to Oakville Mayoral Debate on October 15, the Oakville Chamber will be releasing Mayoral Candidate statements highlighting the candidates’ vision on how they would address each of the four pillars.