A Brief Foreword by Niagara At Large reporter/publisher Doug Draper followed by a News Release from Brock University’s Niagara Community Observatory
Posted September 18th, 2024 on Niagara At Large
A Foreword by Doug Draper –
The campus of Brock University in Niagara, Ontario
The Niagara Community Observatory (NCO) has done it again.
Over the past 15 years, this Brock University-based think-tank, working in concert with a host of knowledgeable individuals and community groups across Niagara, has prepared report after report on every issue from affordable housing, poverty in Niagara, municipal amalgamation, reversing the exodus of and attracting young people to our region to land-use planning, child care and what can be done to encourage residents to buy more locally-grown food.
In each and every case, you may wish that some of these issues were explored from other angles and you may not agree with all the recommendations listed for developing sound public policies for solving them, but that’s okay. Among the most important things from the the NCO’s perspective is to raise public awareness and to stimulate discussion and debate across the region over what can and should be done to make life in Niagara better.
The latest of these reports, titled ‘The Next Frontier of Economic Development in Niagara: From Concierge to Orchestrator of Change’, two years in the making, was released during a two-and-a-half-hour unveiling session at Brock University this September 17th and covers the past (going back 150 years, the present and future opportunities in our region for every sector from agriculture and marine transportation to manufacturing, transportation, housing and arts and entertainment.
I would recommend this report to every politician and government bureaucrat and to every individual, school and community t group across Niagara as a valuable learning tool and discussion paper for charting a region that is more affordable, more economically and environmentally sustainable and more able to offer opportunities to pursue and find fulfillment in fields of interest for everyone.
It is just too bad that the September 17th session was not live streamed and preserved on video for all to hear and see.
However, you can read this latest NCO report by clicking on – NCO-Report-1-Next-Frontier-of-Economic-Development-FINAL-Sept-2024.pdf (brocku.ca)
To find out more about the Niagara Community Observatory and find links to past reports, click on –Niagara Community Observatory (brocku.ca)
-
Doug Draper, Niagara At Large
Now Here Is A News Release On the Report from the Niagara Community Observatory at Brock University –
New Research Offers Recommendations To Support Growth In Key Niagara Sectors
Bob Lytle (left) of Rel8ed Analytics and Mishka Balsom (right) of the Greater Niagara Chamber of Commerce were among panellists who discussed Niagara’s future during an event highlighting Brock research into the region’s economic development on Tuesday, Sept. 17.
With the right approach, Niagara can continue to be a powerhouse in the key sectors of agribusiness, manufacturing and tourism, says newly released Brock research.
The latest report by the Niagara Community Observatory (NCO) analyzes the region’s established and emerging sectors and how Niagara Region’s 10-year Economic Development Strategy addresses these areas.
Supported by funding from the Wilson Foundation<https://brocku.ca/brock-news/2022/09/community-funded-brock-research-to-explore-niagaras-past-and-potential-future-economic-impact/>, the report also recommends a variety of ways to boost Niagara’s economic resiliency.
“Like other regions in Canada and worldwide, Niagara is navigating the choppy waters of shifting global markets, emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, unprecedented climate change and the persistent challenges of growing income inequality and job precarity,” says Professor of Political Science and NCO Director Charles Conteh, the report’s lead author.
“The recommendations from our study focus on how Niagara can orchestrate change in partnership with public, private and non-profit stakeholders as it navigates these global rapids.”
The research shows Niagara has excelled in agribusiness in recent years, particularly in the animal food production and farm product wholesaler industries. The region has seen employment growth of 22 per cent in this sector versus two per cent growth in Ontario from 2013 to 2023.
During that same time, the region’s manufacturing sector saw a 19 per cent increase in employment, compared to five per cent in Ontario and Canada. Key manufacturing areas include animal food production, industrial machinery and furniture.
Although Niagara’s tourism sector has declined as a whole, there are bright spots. These include scenic and sightseeing water tours, which saw a 305 per cent increase from 2013 to 2023, and recreational vehicle (RV) parks and camps, with a growth of 187 per cent.
The report identifies several promising trends in the emerging sectors of information communication technology (ICT), health care and the aerospace industry.
The research team, which includes NCO Research Fellow Nathan Olmstead, Research Associate Felice Martinello and Research Assistant Tia Henstra, calls for policy-makers to adopt the “smart industrial specialization” approach to economic development in Niagara, which involves thinking about subsectors rather than whole sectors.
“Smart industrial specialization is about identifying and building on Niagara’s core strengths, and the relationships that exist between things like manufacturing, agriculture and tourism within the region,” says Olmstead.
Other recommendations in the report include creating “industry-led innovation consortia” in which a variety of stakeholders work together to build Niagara’s competitive edge and establishing “industrial corridors” that expand Niagara’s economic reach to nearby markets.
The report, “The Next Frontier of Economic Development in Niagara: From Concierge to Orchestrator of Change<https://brocku.ca/niagara-community-observatory/wp-content/uploads/sites/117/NCO-Report-1-Next-Frontier-of-Economic-Development-FINAL-Sept-2024.pdf>,” was one of several studies presented at the Wilson Foundation Symposium, held at Brock on Tuesday, Sept. 17. The event concludes the two-year Brock-Wilson Foundation partnership on the project “History of Niagara’s economic development in a changing world<https://brocku.ca/niagara-community-observatory/wilson-foundation-project/>.”
Earlier this year, Conteh led a team of Brock researchers, including Olmstead, Martinello, Associate Professor of History Elizabeth Vlossak and Adjunct Professor of History Kimberly Monk that produced a series of papers examining Niagara’s economic history over the past 200 years, presented to the community March 4<https://brocku.ca/brock-news/in-focus/examining-niagaras-economic-history/>.
The Foundation provided Brock with a $500,000 philanthropic investment in support of the initiative, which brought together an interdisciplinary research team focusing on five key economic sectors: hydroelectric power generation, manufacturing and industry, marine transportation, tourism and agribusiness.
“We are pleased with the outcome of the study and the progress to date of the Brock project,” says L.R. Wilson, the Foundation’s Chairman. “Hopefully, it will help navigate the economic development of the Niagara region well into the future.”
For more on this report, click on the following video screen –
NIAGARA AT LARGE Encourages You To Join The Conversation By Sharing Your Views On This Post In The Space Following The Bernie Sanders Quote Below.
“A Politician Thinks Of The Next Election. A Leader Thinks Of The Next Generation.” – Bernie Sanders
Niagara At Large 