Caledon unveils the Caledon Business Innovation Zone (CBIZ)

The Town of Caledon today unveiled a newly-designed space at Town Hall dedicated to fostering entrepreneurship and innovation. The Caledon Business Innovation Zone is the primary destination for entrepreneurs looking to make their business dreams a reality or small business owners who want to network, learn and expand their business horizons.

“There’s so much untapped talent and expertise in our business community,” said Mayor Allan Thompson. “Sometimes all it takes is a little guidance to turn that spark of an idea into a real business…and CBIZ will be a focus for that.”

CBIZ (“see-biz”) is a specially-designed space in Town Hall, adjacent to Council Chambers, with a meeting room, internet-enabled hot desk / work station, reception area, washroom and resource display. Staffed by the Town of Caledon Economic Development Office, CBIZ also offers one-on-one consultations (by appointment), business plan reviews, networking events, access to online learning and seminars/workshops.

Caledon revamps its online presence for business

To mark the CBIZ launch, the Town of Caledon has also revamped the business section of its website. Entrepreneurs, business owners and investors will now see a new look and feel at caledon.ca/business.

As part of the theme “Caledon: the Natural Course of Business,” the new site features an entirely new research portal designed to help investors access important information about Caledon’s attractiveness as a place to do business.

Developed with Canadian technology firm Localintel, the new portal includes an overview of Caledon’s main industries, its infrastructure network, environment, land uses, demographics and overall business climate.

About CBIZ

The genesis for CBIZ was a Mayor’s Business Breakfast workshop in 2015 where several ideas were proposed for improving the business climate in Caledon.

Following the workshop a Business Retention and Expansion Task Force was formed with business, community and government represenatives to explore business issues in Caledon.

As part of this work, Economic Development staff conducted surveys and interviews with dozens of Caledon businesses. One of its key recommendations in 2016 was the formation of CBIZ as “an innovation hub to organically drive Caledon’s economy and make it sustainable.”

Since early 2017 the Town of Caledon Economic Development Office has been offering services under the CBIZ brand and the opening of the space in Town Hall is the latest and most exciting chapter in this evolution.

For more information about CBIZ visit caledon.ca/cbiz.

-30-

Attachments

MR-2018-053 The Town of Caledon unveils the Caledon Business Innovation Zone (CBIZ) (printable version)