The city is spending $200,000 to kick-start a new food technology initiative at the Accelerator Centre.
On Monday, councillors approved a recommendation from the city’s economic development committee to provide seed funding for what they’re calling Canada’s Technology for Food Initiative.
The goal is to marry Waterloo’s tech and academic communities with the world of food processing and production to innovate, increase efficiency and try to keep processors here.
The food technology innovation cluster would be the first of its kind in North America.
“It just looks fantastic,” Coun. Scott Witmer said. “It’s pretty exciting stuff.”
Economic development committee members heard from local food and beverage processors including Pillers and Brick Brewing that there’s a need for more innovation, talent retention and attraction and co-ordination of efforts.
The economic development committee heard similar concerns from Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food delegations.
Those challenges are resulting in lost local food and beverage processors as companies try to minimize operating costs, says a city report.
To make the project’s three phases work would require $17 million in funding, which organizers expect to be raised by a combination of provincial and federal grants and from local players in the industry.
Each phase is made up of challenges presented by processors that researchers will try to solve.
Ted McKechnie of the economic development committee said this is no overnight project.
“Our long-term vision is really to incubate and commercialize the tech for food products,” he said.
It’s envisioned to be local, national and international in scale, he said.
Waterloo’s $200,000 will be paid to the Accelerator Centre to set up Canada’s Food Technology Initiative. The Accelerator Centre is dedicated to developing technology startups and will be the project lead.
“I’m excited about our next steps,” Mayor Brenda Halloran said.
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The food and beverage processing industry:
•More than 1,400 local farms earn at least two times more in farm receipts than the provincial average per acre
•Food production is the second largest industry in the province, next to automobile production
•There are 100 processors and distributors locally
•Conestoga College recently opened its Institute for Food Processing Technology
•Food production began in Waterloo Region in the 1800s
Source: City of Waterloo staff report