Economic development corp. relocates to Communitech

KITCHENER — In a move that underscores the tech sector’s growing impact, the region’s economic development agency is moving to offices in the Communitech Hub.

The Waterloo Region Economic Development Corp. and its team of 11 employees and two co-op students join the list of economic development offices in Ottawa, Denver and Los Angeles that now share space with technology incubators and accelerators.

Increasingly, economic development is driven by support for startups that have the potential to quickly grow into larger technology companies — often called scaleups, said Ton LaMantia, the agency’s president and chief executive officer.

“There are increasing investments being made in the ecosystems that drive scaleups,” he said.

The region’s economic development corporation, which goes by the name Waterloo EDC, will be in its new office in the Tannery building by the beginning of March. It will have 2,400 square feet of space, which is significantly smaller than its current office of 4,500 square feet at 260 King St. W.

But it will share meeting rooms and common areas with Communitech, the industry group that represents more than 1,000 technology companies and hundreds of startups. There is lots of parking available and no utility bills.

“It wasn’t a hard decision to make,” said LaMantia. “We spent a lot of time at the Hub anyway.”

The Communitech Hub, the

Accelerator Centre in Waterloo and Grand Innovations in Cambridge are regular stops on tours for foreign companies and investors looking at Waterloo Region, said LaMantia.

He noted that about two weeks ago a foreign multinational corporation was in the region and wanted a tour of Communitech and the Velocity Garage, which is part of the University of Waterloo’s startup support program and also is located in the Tannery building.

“The young companies have a potential customer with the multinational, and I also get to know the young companies,” said LaMantia.

“In the case of one startup, the specific ask was: ‘Hey, can you introduce us to some companies in Waterloo Region because we would like to pilot our software?’”

According to the Region of Waterloo, the tech sector here employs about 30,000 people. The manufacturing sector employs about 65,000 people.

But the two sectors overlap when it comes to advanced manufacturing and the Internet of Things, says the region.

“Those type of connected devices are transforming a range of industries from advanced manufacturing to food processing and automotive,” said LaMantia.

“So you can actually go into the Toyota plant in Cambridge or Conestoga Meat Packers in Woolwich or Unilock in North Dumfries and bring it all home with a visit to Communitech,” said LaMantia.