OBOT Connect! February 2019

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BY ROSA SABA

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Autonomous tractors, data-collecting drones among technologies poised to transform sector

ocal tech firms, politicians and economic development officials are pushing to turn the Greenbelt Research Farm in south Nepean into an R&D centre for the emerging field of precision agriculture.

In 2017, Ottawa was part of a bid for “supercluster” funding aimed at accelerating growing sectors in Canada, which saw a total of $950 million split between five groups. The national bid included a plan to turn the National Capital Commission’s Greenbelt Research

Farm – bordered by Woodroffe Avenue and West Hunt Club, Fallowfield and Greenbank roads – into a testbed for agricultural technology.

Though the bid didn’t make it to the finish line, several of its stakeholders are ploughing forward with another bid, this time for funding from the government’s Strategic Innovation Fund.

This particular funding will see one successful group receive between $10 million and $50 million for projects focused on automation and digital technologies in the agriculture and agrifood sector.

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FEBRUARY 2019

Ottawa bets on NCC L farm as future precision agriculture hub

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Welcome to OBOT Connect!

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a joint initiative of Ottawa Business Journal and the Ottawa Board of Trade.

This new publication takes an in-depth look at the trends and issues shaping businesses in various regions of the city, while providing highlights of Ottawa Board of Trade initiatives in the community.

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Calling all young business leaders

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Nominations are now open for the 2019 Forty Under 40 awards – one of the National Capital Region’s most sought-after and distinguished business accolade for young professionals.

Now more than 20 years old, Forty Under 40 is jointly presented

by Ottawa Business Journal and the Ottawa Board of Trade and recognizes the region’s rising stars who are leaders within their industry and community.

Recipients must be 39 years or younger on June 30, 2019, spend the majority of their work time in Ottawa-Gatineau and be an owner, executive, manager, professional or person with significant business decision-making authority. Selfnominations are encouraged.

For more information and to submit a nomination, visit fortyunder40.ca.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Visit ottawabot.ca/events for more information and registration details on these and other upcoming business events.

Mayor’s Breakfast Feb. 12 7 a.m. to 9 a.m.

Ottawa City Hall Guest speaker: Carleton University president Benoit-Antoine Bacon Local Breakfast Series: South Ottawa Municipal Political Panel Feb. 20 7 a.m. to 9 a.m.

Hilton Garden Inn Ottawa Airport (2400 Alert Rd.) CEO Talk: Women In Business March 5 7 a.m. to 9 a.m.

Ottawa Art Gallery (50 Mackenzie King Bridge) Mayor’s Breakfast March 19 7 a.m. to 9 a.m.

Ottawa City Hall Guest speaker: Goldy Hyder, president and CEO of the Business Council of Canada

Contined from previous page Ottawa city councillor Jan Harder, who was an advocate for the first supercluster bid, says the city – along with Invest Ottawa, agri-tech startup The Growcer and others – have joined partners in Alberta to form Canada’s Farm to Table Agritech Network.

The bid will see a similar proposal: to turn the former research farm into a national testbed for agricultural technology such as autonomous tractors and data-collecting drones.

Harder says she believes Ottawa has the opportunity to play a significant role in developing emerging agricultural technologies.

“We want to support growing practices that consumers want,” says Harder.

“We have an obligation, we believe, to farmers and Canadians.”

COMMUNICATIONS TECH The farm, which was previously used for livestock and poultry research, is already home to the private autonomous vehicle testbed currently being developed.

Michael Tremblay, the president and CEO of Invest Ottawa, says testing autonomous farm vehicles on this 16-kilometre track will be a natural fit, but the bid – due March 9 – is aimed at doing much more.

With 25 buildings sitting unused from the farm’s previous research projects, Tremblay hopes the land will soon be used to test cutting-edge agricultural technology.

Ottawa’s contribution to the field of precision agriculture includes its strong communications technology base, says Tremblay, adding that connectivity will

be key to making emerging agricultural technology work in rural farming areas.

“There’s a big opportunity (for Ottawa) in terms of making available communications technologies in those remote areas,” he says.

Geraldine Wildman, program manager with the city’s rural affairs and economic development departments, says precision agriculture was identified in Ottawa’s latest economic strategy as a key area of focus. Ottawa is also a partner with the Agri-East Lowlands initiative (AEL), which aims to bring together producers and researchers from across the region.

“Our goal (is to create) an innovation hub that ... encourages collaboration from across industry and not-for-profit and government sectors,” says Wildman.

The possibility of a precision agriculture research hub is an attractive one for Barrhaven and Nepean, which could stand to benefit from increased economic activity nearby.

A 2016 economic analysis of Barrhaven by consulting firm Doyletech identified agriculture and agri-tech as a key sector to focus on for the area, according to Barrhaven BIA executive director Andrea Steenbakkers.

“We’re really the hub where rural connects with urban,” she says.

The BBIA is also a partner in the AEL, which Steenbakkers says hopes to contribute to future work being done on the farm by helping connect rural producers with researchers.

“Everybody needs to start working together to brand the area as being rich and innovative in agricultural technology,” she says. “It’s just not known yet.”

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of tax breaks on employer health and dental plans. The report also recommends modifying the Municipal Accommodation Tax to benefit the province’s tourism industry.

The report highlights rural broadband internet access as a main infrastructure deficit, and recommends leveraging the private sector to improve upon this area.

Recommendations for sustainable spending focus on ways to “more effectively spend taxpayer money,” including using technology in the public sector, implementing user-pay models and using value-based procurement.

According to Michelle Eaton, vicepresident of communications and government of the OCC, “cumulative red tape, U.S. tax reforms, economic uncertainty, and a system that discourages growth have led to a staggering scale-up challenge for businesses of all sizes across Ontario.”

In the press release, Eaton recommends the provincial government focus on “fiscal balance and smarter spending” to help address this challenge.

– OBJ staff

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ith the Ontario PC government’s first budget expected in early 2019, the Ontario Chamber of Commerce has released a report with 13 recommendations to encourage business growth and taxpayer confidence.

According to a statement from the OCC, a 2018 survey saw 48 per cent of Ontario businesses indicate a lack of confidence in the province’s economic outlook, with two-thirds citing high tax rates as the reason.

The release points out that businesses with an income of less than $500,000 are currently taxed at a flat rate, and recommends the 2019 budget include a variable deduction to better accommodate and support small businesses.

The chamber’s key recommendations focus on four areas: competitive taxing, municipalities’ fiscal capacities, Ontario’s infrastructure deficit and sustainable spending.

Five of the 13 recommendations are focused on tax competitiveness, including a focus on small business tax deductions and the preservation

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DND’s arrival sparks building boom in Bells Corners New hotels, brewery and homes planned for Nepean community

BY ROSA SABA rosa@obj.ca

FEBRUARY 2019

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everal property developers and business owners are taking a renewed interest in Bells Corners, attracted in part by development incentives and the growing presence of the nearby Department of National Defence headquarters.

City councillor Rick Chiarelli, a longtime Bells Corners resident and the ward’s representative, says the area was once a bustling shopping district.

With tech giant Nortel as an anchor employer, the city’s only IKEA, and what was believed to be more fast food outlets than any other neighbourhood, Chiarelli says Ottawa residents came from all over the city to shop and spend time in Bells Corners.

Then a few things happened. New power centres popped up in Kanata and Barrhaven, and Westboro started to boom. Bells Corners wasn’t the only shopping destination anymore, and the neighbourhood started to see a decline.

“Suddenly people didn’t have to go to Bells Corners,” says Chiarelli. IKEA’s move to its current Pinecrest location cemented that, he adds. Even the fast food chains were looking elsewhere: one of the first to go was KFC, he remembers, a loss he calls “symbolic.”

The Nortel bust in 2009, which affected thousands of employees in Ottawa and splintered the tech scene for years to come, was “the final stake to the heart,” says Chiarelli.

“It became clear that we would have to shift,” he says. “It was possible to rebuild the customer base, but we would have to shift our target.”

OPPORTUNITIES Chiarelli says Bells Corners has a geographical advantage: it’s at the confluence of Highways 416, 417 and 7. The majority of tourist traffic comes

Joe Varner is the executive director of the Bells Corners Business Improvement Area.

PHOTO BY MARK HOLLERON

“It was possible to rebuild the customer base, but we would have to shift our target.”

– Rick Chiarelli, city councillor, College Ward

via those roadways, making hotels a strategic bet for development.

The creation of the Bells Corners BIA in 2009 helped to create a voice for the business community, and the city brought in a Community Improvement Plan, which incentivizes redevelopments by giving property owners a break on their future tax bills.

Chiarelli says he thinks it’s been one of the most successful such plans Ottawa has seen. One hotel, a Holiday Inn, is already up, and a Hilton Garden Inn and restaurant are slated to move

into a brand-new development coming to 300 Moodie Dr. “It’s made some tough business decisions a lot easier,” says BIA executive director Joe Varner of the plan.

But perhaps the biggest boon came in the form of an anchor employer to fill the hole – in this case, the 370-acre Carling Campus – that Nortel had left behind.

Around a third of the anticipated 10,000 DND employees have already started work at their new campus, and both Varner and Chiarelli say Bells Corners is already feelings the perks.

Some homebuilders also appear to have a renewed interest in Bells Corners.

Chiarelli says he’s been in talks with a developer who is planning to construct some 2,000 residential units.

If such a project moves ahead, it could dramatically increase the population of the community, which currently has 3,600 homes, according to Chiarelli.

Many seniors have expressed their wish to stay in the area, and the opportunity to occupy smaller condo-

OTTAWA BREWERY TAKES OVER FORMER BELLS CORNERS CAR LOT Kichesippi Beer Co., a local brewery, is set to open its new location in Bells Corners this March.

Founder Paul Meek says he hopes to contribute to the Bells Corners community with his new tap room, which will occupy a former car dealership on Richmond Road.

Meek says he hopes the brewery will be a hub for Bells Corners residents as well as a destination for people across Ottawa.

“We’ve always had this goal of being part of the Ottawa experience,” says Meek.

The new Kichesippi location will serve beer and a small pub fare menu in addition to housing a cafe.

Meek is working on establishing a farmer’s market in a nearby parking lot, and hopes his new location will be a community hub.

He’s especially excited about the location’s proximity to the Trans Canada Trail. “(It’s) a really unique opportunity to be in an urban environment … but also to be right up against really one of the coolest things that this country has,” says Meek. “There’s a lot of great stuff happening in that neighbourhood and we’re excited to be a part of it.”

style units will make it easier for existing residents to stay in the community and free up single-family homes for young families to move in, says Chiarelli.

Another new face in the neighbourhood is a familiar one: KFC, which returned recently, says Chiarelli.

“Symbolically, this is very exciting,” he says.