Presentation to Oshawa City Council March 20, 2017 Dennis Croft Spark Centre 21 Simcoe Street, South Oshawa, Ontario, L1H 4G1 August 8, 2016 City of Oshawa Attention: Kyle Benham 50 Centre Street South Oshawa, Ontario L1H 3Z7 RE: Report on Use of Funds for Spark Centre’s Facility in Oshawa (January 2016 to July 2016) We are pleased to submit a report on Spark Centre’s performance against the expectations of the City of Oshawa as it relates to the five-year funding contract, for a downtown location. We highly value the partnership between the City of Oshawa and Spark Centre. The partnership reflects the mutual vision of building a thriving, entrepreneurial community in downtown Oshawa. We believe you will be very happy with the results of our locational presence in downtown Oshawa; a presence which would not have been possible without the City’s support and funding. I would be pleased to provide additional commentary or answer any questions. Sincerely, Dennis Croft CEO & President, Spark Commercialization and Innovation Centre Enclosure: 2016 Annual Report 2016 Audited Financial Statements Spark Centre Invoice: August 01, 2016 to July 31, 2017
Use of Funds for Spark Centre’s Facility in Downtown Oshawa The following summary outlines key metrics used by Spark Centre to communicate performance criteria of the City of Oshawa funding agreement: Summary of Key Results: Current Period: January 1 to July 31, 2016 Contract to Date: August 1, 2014 to July 31, 2016
Commentary of Key Activities: Thrive Program: Spark Centre’s Thrive program provides high potential clients above average access to free office space, advisory services, assistance sourcing funding, and preferred access to service providers. The program is run in four-month cycles, and can see as many as 10 companies included. Each company must have its head office located at The Loft, in Oshawa. During the current period, Spark Centre had eleven (11) companies in the Thrive Program, four (4) of which were past Durham Ignite winners. The full list includes: IFTech Inventing Future Technology Inc. National PRO Staff Sound Options Tinnitus Treatments Tiko 3D Zambah CrossPlatform Cloud Technologies Inc. Henlen Watches Panda Insights UConekt (graduated out of program) Seriously Fun Games (graduated out of program) YoSpotMe (graduated out of program) Several of these clients have experienced significant success: Tiko3D raised $3.5M on Kickstarter in 4 weeks during March 2015, which marked one of the top Kickstarter successes of all time. The company has created a proprietary 3D desktop printer with a retail price of $179 USD. For this current period Tiko created 11 additional paid jobs, bringing the total jobs to 20. Tiko has started shipping 18,000 units worldwide and has opened a manufacturing facility in China. National Pro Staff has become the North America online community leader for angling and fishing. The company provides a free online community to users and provides team management software and advertising to companies such as GoPro, Shimano, and Pure Fishing. Over the past six months, NPS has seen incredible growth. The team has grown to more than 12 full time- since inception, has added more than 400 brands to their platform, and has increased to 80,000+ active users. Additionally, they have released an entirely new web platform and are within weeks of launching a new mobile app.
Youth Incubator Program To date the student-focused incubators have contributed to 46 companies, supported 82 students, provided over 53 events, and over $80,000 in fundraising towards these companies has occurred. The program offers students ages 18 to 29 the opportunity to spend time with Spark Centre at The Loft and have the same level support offered to our Thrive Program clients. This program is held in partnership with UOIT and Durham College. Youth Incubator Program Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObA--zhGWQ0 Spark Centre’s Cohort 4 Summer Youth Incubator launched on May 2 nd , 2016. The program is held for the best and brightest Durham Region student entrepreneurs to come together and learn what it takes to be an entrepreneur. Working out of The Loft, students learn many of the key skills necessary to build a successful business venture while networking with Spark Centre staff, clients and partners. 12 student companies were accepted into the Summer 2016 program from Durham College and University of Ontario Institute of Technology. 25 workshops were held on topics such as Marketing and Branding, Lean Business Model Introduction, Startup Sales, Startup Law and many more. In January 2016 Spark launched the winter incubator by working closely with Durham College and UOIT, saw 6 companies and 10 students. UOIT’s Brilliant Program @ The Loft: Spark Centre continues to subcontract with UOIT to facilitate and manage their Brilliant Entrepreneurship incubator at our Loft location. This 16-seat incubator sees UOIT-based student companies, entrepreneurship events, and formal entrepreneurship curriculum teachings. This is a major step in joining post-secondary, entrepreneurship-focus with Spark Centre in downtown Oshawa. In fact, during this recent summer, the UOIT Entrepreneurship credit course used this space for its curriculum delivery. International Soft Landing Program: In January 2016 Spark Centre in partnership with Durham Region launched an international Soft Landing program. The program was primarily targeted to Chinese and Brazilian companies seeking expansion to Canada. The first program was delivered in May 2016 and saw five Brazilian companies attend Spark Centre’s Oshawa location for one week. The program was a significant success and resulted in an impressive follow on demand by Brazilian companies. Spark Centre has hosted three tours from Brazilian organizations - including the Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, and is gearing up for another one-week program in September 2016. We continue to get international interest including visit from companies in China, The Netherlands, United States, and Brazil.
Spark Headquarter Usage: Spark Centre’s corporate address is The Loft location in Oshawa. With a mandate to cover Durham Region, Northumberland County, as well as South Lake areas, Kawartha Lake area, Peterborough area and Haliburton area, this office location is central to all we do. Currently we maintain almost 20 full and part-time staff in location, including executive management, marketing, client services, operations, and human resources. We also see over 200 clients each year, most of which are met and advised through our Loft location. Our Board of Directors, Industry Advisory Board, and many of our key events occur at our Loft location. We continue to have partner interactions in Oshawa and are now seeing regular usage of the facility by Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE), National Research Council (NRC), BDO Canada, 360 Insights, and Meridian Bank. We have hosted a large number of tours including: international governments, provincial and federal governments, industry partners, and various academic organizations. The impact of all of headquarter activity has a significant impact on downtown economics in the area of parking revenues, retail purchases, event space, and student concentration. City Acknowledgement: Spark Centre is completely transparent with regards to the City of Oshawa’s partnership and funding leverage. Spark Centre ensures that the City is front and center when it conducts tours, media events, interviews, partners’ sessions and other key activities. Spark Centre is proud to display the City of Oshawa’s logo in The Loft. We ensure the logo appears on any activities we do in Oshawa, and for the most part in Durham Region. Three recent videos produced by Spark Centre feature Oshawa and our incubation location, The Loft. http://www.sparkcentre.org/news/spark-centre-inspiring-innovation/ Further, the Mayor of Oshawa is a main stage presence at any event we host in Oshawa. Spark Centre is excited to be part of Oshawa’s downtown development strategy, BIA, smart city strategy, and an integral part of Durham College and UOIT Oshawa growth plans.
CITY OF OSHAWA FUNDING REPORT AUGUST 2016-DECEMBER 2016 An explanation of the use of funds by Spark Commercialization and Innovation Centre and summary of key program features
Contents CEO’s Summary __________________________________________________________________________________________ 1 Use of Funds: Spark Centre – The Loft (Downtown Oshawa) ________________________________________ 2 Commentary of Activities _______________________________________________________________________________ 3 Featuring Thrive Program clients_______________________________________________________________________ 4 Youth Incubator Program _______________________________________________________________________________ 5 International Soft Landing Program ____________________________________________________________________ 6 Spark Headquarter Usage _______________________________________________________________________________ 6 City Acknowledgement __________________________________________________________________________________ 7
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