Community partners join to present innovation forum
Community organizations are partnering to present the first Community Innovation Forum: Knowledge in Action at the Peterborough Golf & County Club.
On Mar. 24 the Greater Peterborough Innovation Cluster, the Trent Centre for Community-Based Education and Fleming College’s School of Business, Computing and Hospitality will be joining forces with Bell Canada and a number of community partners to foster the transformation of local ideas and assets into sustainable, innovative, socio-economic activities.
The partnerships will encourage opportunities for the commercialization of new ideas, demonstrate the educational and community development value of community/post-secondary partnerships and generate expanded job opportunities for highly skilled local graduates. The Community Innovation Forum will merge the Innovation Cluster’s Innovation Summit, Fleming College’s Showcase of Applied Projects and the Trent Centre for Community-Based Education’s Knowledge in Action Forum to demonstrate the importance of community collaborations in driving a healthy, prosperous economy and social, cultural and environmental sustainability.
The Forum will provide educational opportunities for forum participants through three panel discussions being held throughout the afternoon; Community Resources, External Resources and Sector Trends. The event will also showcase close to 60 projects from Trent University and Fleming College students and will highlight the innovative and outstanding work they are demonstrating through applied projects proposed by, and in collaboration with, rural and urban community businesses, local government and not-for-profit organizations.
Showcased community-inspired project topics will include: food security, cyber safety, transportation planning, indigenous language revitalization, aging, violence prevention, environmental education, cultural and heritage conservation, human rights, immigration, species at risk, event management, marketing and international trade. The projects will be judged throughout the showcase and awards will be presented at a ceremony following the showcase reception.
Quotes:
“Two of the most important components of community health and well-being are the ability to retain our youth and to create high-skilled, high-paid jobs,” stated Bill Lockington, Chair, of the Greater Peterborough Innovation Cluster. “This event will showcase the wide scope of outstanding work that is being done by students and local organizations and the future of our region’s knowledge-based economy.”
“This is an important event that demonstrates the partnerships Fleming students have created with the local community,” said Tony Tilly, President of Fleming College. “These projects are a vital learning tool for our students as they help develop critical skills that prepare them to be successful in their field.”
“By merging our three public events, we wanted to demonstrate that innovative economic development is mutually dependant on having a strong community socially, culturally and environmentally,” said Todd Barr, Executive Director, of the Trent Centre for Community-Based Education. “It’s a great opportunity to celebrate student accomplishments and the potential of community/post-secondary partnerships to support local organizations and community-based learning.”
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For additional information please contact Kate Young, Communications Officer, 705-743-0777 x 2134 or kyoung@gpaedc.on.ca