COVID-19 is creating challenges in the workforce — and opportunities, too, depending on how you look at it.
For the Town of Innisfil, there was an opportunity. In April, the town supported the #HackTheCurve hackathon presented by the Ryerson DMZ, a business accelerator.
Hackathons usually last a weekend as teams sprint to create an application or solve a problem. This hackathon lasted two weeks, and the problems all related to COVID-19.
“We identified five opportunities that we submitted to the hackathon teams right at the beginning,” said Jelmer Stegink, Investment Accelerator for the town, adding 31 teams took up the challenge.
“We ended up selecting three teams to continue working with to actually pilot the technology they’re working on.”
The winning teams, which were working on a chat bot, a digital communications portal, and finding a solution for paper-based time cards, are also signing up for programs offered through Innisfil Accelerates.
Even before COVID-19 stalled many businesses, Innisfil was looking at startups as a way to transform the local economy.
“Startups are agile, and they drive a lot of growth in the economy,” Stegink said.
Stegink points to Toronto as an example of the growing opportunity.
According to the Toronto Employment Survey, 60,408 people were employed in the technology sector in 2019, a 16.6 per cent increase from 2018.
“We want to establish a Simcoe-based technology cluster to start to be able to attract part of the growth that is happening in Toronto up here,” he said.
The town can already chalk up one successful partnership thanks to Innisfil local Andrew Rains and his company Fractal SAAS.
Rains was one of the hackathon winners who will continue to work with the town, and he’s also helped the town reopen its boat launches with a new booking system called Nice Launch.
“We’re approaching 1,000 bookings within the first week,” said Rains, who moved to Innisfil in 2018.
“Quite frankly, I was worried about the impact it would have on my business no longer being in the core of Toronto,” he said.
After he met with Stegink and heard about the town’s plans in the tech space, he felt energized.
“It's really smart for Innisfil to offer the opportunities and support to entrepreneurs,” he said. “Tech jobs are going to thrive if they can solve problems right now.”
Working from home or out of satellite offices may become more the norm as technology allows people to better balance work and home lives.
Stegink said the town hopes to attract between 15 and 20 startups by the end of the year.
“What we’re trying to build is the best of both worlds,” he said. “I think we are in a really good spot to make this program a success.”
Shane MacDonald, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Barrie Advance
