These are not articles2010 CDTF Funding Now Available in Saskatchewan Saskatchewan communities that have been adversely affected by the economic downturn are now able to apply for funding from the federal Community Development Trust Fund (CDTF) program for economic revitalization projects, including economic plans, feasibility studies, and infrastructure upgrades or construction. Enterprise Saskatchewan will be administering the program in Saskatchewan and disbursing the $36.4 million allocated to the province over three years. To be considered for project approval in the 2010-11 fiscal year, applications must be received by Enterprise Saskatchewan (or postmarked) before 5:00 p.m. CST on May 14, 2010.
The application form and guide are available on the Enterprise Saskatchewan website. Digital Gaming Industry on the Rise in Canada A new survey of the North American video game development industry suggests that growth has been flat in the United States since 2008, but that it continues to grow rapidly in Canada. In December, Game Developer Research, a San Francisco-based industry observer, released its annual Industry Census. The full report can be purchased for about $2,500 – but industry journal ITBusiness.ca has a summary. In Canada, industry employment rose from 9,500 people in 2008 to more than 12,500 in 2009, an increase of about 32%. 13 New Tourism Regions Announced in Ontario The Province of Ontario has announced the establishment of 13 new tourism regions to better serve the industry by working with partners to enhance and grow these region’s tourism products and marketing efforts. This announcement follows the release of Discovering Ontario, a report on the competitiveness of Ontario’s tourism industry. With these new tourism regions and Regional Tourism Organizations, Ontario’s tourism industry will be better able to coordinate tourism marketing and management across the province, leading to more visitors and more tourism related economic activity in each region. The province will help the industry transition to the new tourism regions by providing $25 million in each of the next two years. This funding is in addition to the $40 million in ongoing annual funding announced in the 2009 Ontario Budget. More information can be obtained on the 13 regions here. Measuring the Effects of R&D SpendingEconomic developers have long proclaimed the value of high-end R&D activity to local economies, but this value has always been hard to quantify or define. A recent draft research paper for the US National Bureau of Economic Research (available here as a download for $5) makes important strides in getting us closer to real measures. In the paper, Bronwyn Hall, Jacques Mairesse and Pierre Mohnen survey a wide range of existing academic and government research form the past 50 years, and provide detailed tables comparing different approaches. The study concludes that R&D spending has strong positive economic benefits, and that public R&D spending also has strong social benefits. Graph Synergie Finds Innovative Way to Showcase Technology Parks Online Graph Synergie has developed a new virtual way of presenting technology parks using Google Earth and municipal GIS. With this innovation, both the Montreal Technoparc and Quebec Metro High Tech Park/Levis Innoparc have raised the bar when it comes to a compelling online presentation of their existing businesses and property that is available for development. The 3D interactive application allow interested visitors to navigate a website with privileged access to their environment while offering a vast amount of important information relating to occupied areas, available and future sites, transportation and already established businesses. To take a peek at a few screen shots, click here, here, here, here and here. Powering Up Aboriginal Energy ConferenceThe fourth Annual National Powering Up Aboriginal Energy Conference is an opportunity to learn about current projects as well as tools and strategies for the success of Aboriginal efforts in the renewable energy industry. More than $350 billion in major resource and energy developments have been identified in or near Canadian Aboriginal communities and significant increases in funding are now available to help Aboriginal communities develop renewable energy projects and promote Aboriginal economic development. The conference takes place in Toronto from April 26-27, 2010. Registration information is available here on the Council for the Advancement of Native Development Officers (CANDO) website. Employment Development Index December 2009 |
Company CornerTwo New Members Join the MDB TeamMillier Dickinson Blais is pleased to announce the addition of two new members to our team. Jordan Katz has joined our Toronto office as an associate consultant and Crystal Draper will be taking on the same role in our Hamilton office in February.  Jordan originally came to Millier Dickinson Blais as an intern in 2009 while doing his MAES in Local Economic Development at the University of Waterloo. Jordan has a BA in Urban Studies, Geography and Political Science from the University of Toronto. While completing his degrees, Jordan has served as a research assistant at both the University of Waterloo and the University of Toronto, a competitive intelligence analyst at TELUS and a policy intern at the Canadian Urban Institute.  Crystal is joining us from Alberta, where she has worked for the Regional Economic Development Initiative for Northwest Alberta as an economic developer officer and most recently as the manager of regional economic development. Crystal has a Bachelor of Tourism Studies from Brock University with a focus on planning and development. Resource ReviewPR 2.0: Putting the Public Back in Public Relations Whether you are plugged into every social network out there or you don’t know what tweeting is, the growing importance of social media in our personal and professional lives is undeniable. This explosion of Web 2.0 tools has had a significant impact on how organizations connect with their audiences and stakeholders. PR. 20 by Deirdre Breakenridge, while directed primarily at public relations practitioners, is a useful beginner’s guide to integrating Web 2.0 tools such as social networks, wikis, blogs and RSS into your communications efforts. Breakenridge provides tips and resources to be used throughout the communications process, from research (the first step in any PR plan) to evaluation. Whether you are a small enterprise or a large organization, Breakenridge tries to provide links to resources that fit your needs (and technical skills), as well as suggestions on what to look for in the different tools available. The interviews and case studies throughout the book give interesting insight into how experts, journalists, audiences and other organizations perceive and use Web 2.0 tools. The age of the book (published in 2008) shows, though, as little mention is made of tools like Twitter that have become widely adopted in the past two years. However, Breakenridge provides such solid advice about the practice of PR, whatever .0 it is, that it is still applicable. She is unwavering in her attention to the fundamentals of PR, to the building of credibility and relationships with audiences and the media. For Breakenridge, the evolution of PR from version 1.0 to 2.0 is not about the shiny social media tools. As she explains on her website, it is about “using a combination of social media tools that are available to communications professionals to reach and better communicate with influencers and consumer audiences directly”. Essentially, PR 2.0 is about “putting the ‘public’ back in public relations.” Out and aboutMembers of the Millier Dickinson Blais team will be participating in these upcoming events: February
March
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Lauren Millier, Brock Dickinson, Paul Blais and Court Ellingson will be attending the 
