Advocate up for 2018 Innovation Awards through KLCFDC
The Lindsay Advocate will be one of three winners of the Kawartha Lakes Innovation Awards, through the Kawartha Lakes Community Futures Development Corporation (KLCFDC).
KLCFDC recently announced the selection of the three finalists, all of whom will be honoured at the annual Innovation Day, which will be held Friday, Oct. 19 at Noon at the Lindsay Golf Club.
The Innovation Awards, which were created by the KLCFDC, are a part of the Innovation Day activities which get underway at 10:30 on Friday morning with a presentation by the Business Development Bank, the BDC, entitled, Digitize Now; Transform Your Business.
All three finalists — first, second, and third place winners — will receive a cash award and a new commemorative trophy. The luncheon marks the 20th year that the CFDC has handed out the Innovation Awards to local businesses and their owners for their achievements and their contributions to the community through the development of new and innovative products and services. Entries were judged by a panel of eight individuals representing both private business and non-profit organizations that support the local efforts of the Kawartha Lakes’ business community.
The final event of Innovation Day will be a keynote address by Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock MPP and Ontario Minister of Labour, Laurie Scott.
Paul Reeds, Chair of the KLCFDC board of directors, says “The efforts made by the businesses that provided their submissions for consideration needs to be recognized—regardless of whether they may be an Innovation Awards finalist or not. This year with a focus on digitization and its impacts on our local businesses, our Small Business Week involvement is looking towards the future to uncover emerging trends that will help shape and grow both our own economy and Canadian businesses in the years to come. Taking part in the Innovation Awards aligns well with this focus, and judging from our three finalists, the businesses selected do so as well.”
The three finalists are:
Belair Mechatronics: Based in Omemee, last year’s Innovation Award Grand Prize winner is continuing to create and utilize innovation within its manufacturing activities. Since last fall, Belair has put some of its focus on application-based software. Calling it “Predictive Machining”, this software uses Big Data to monitor and optimize a CNC machine’s performance. With its ability to work on almost any job, it is a great way for small and mid-sized manufacturing operations to save time and money.
Netmechanics: Netmechanics is a new cyber security consulting firm based in Dunsford. With businesses of all sizes becoming increasingly more reliant on technology to facilitate every aspect of what they do and how they operate, they also need to be able to limit their risk of cyber threats. Netmechanics is focused on the small and medium-sized enterprises. Netmechanics is presently offering specific services to help businesses with their cyber security. After identifying the strengths and weaknesses in what a business is doing, and with a focus on “The Human Firewall” in looking to create a security-conscious workplace culture, Netmechanics provides a playbook of processes to tackle the gaps.
The Lindsay Advocate: As a “multimedia news experience,” The Lindsay Advocate’s operations include a robust news site, a glossy monthly magazine, and an active Facebook and Twitter presence, focused almost exclusively on Kawartha Lakes. Launching on-line in August of 2017, the Lindsay Advocate released its first printed edition only seven months after that in March 2018. With an editorial focus on the social and economic wellness of our Kawartha Lakes communities, features have included the Basic Income Project, the amalgamation of the Lindsay and Peterborough hospitals and the current municipal election. Revenue results for the past six months show constant growth month-over-month and there are plans for further development as a result.
Innovation Day and the Awards presentation will wrap up Small Business Week in Lindsay, with the final event planned for Friday evening by the Coboconk & Norland Chamber of Commerce.
“It seems appropriate to pretty much cap off the week-long series of educational, social and networking activities with an event that salutes some our newest and brightest business ideas,” said Ian Crockford of BDO, a long-standing supporter of Small Business Week.
“It shows the advancements that are taking place right here and that as a community, we are being creative, innovative and forward thinking in serving our residents and in honouring our small businesses, which are, after all, the lifeblood of our local economy.”
Andrew Wallen, general manager of the KLCFDC says, “The call for nominations brought responses from across Kawartha Lakes and from an impressive range of businesses. We are also most appreciative for the commitment of our judges in evaluating these innovative businesses. Not an easy task with such a brilliant and broad cross-section of applicants.”
