Mississauga, Canada’s seventh-largest city, located on the shores of Lake Ontario in the heart of the Greater Toronto Area, is seeking input from the public and industry stakeholders to help shape an incentive programme for the Lakeview Innovation District.
The programme aims to transform a former industrial area along the waterfront into a 20-acre innovation campus, part of the larger 177-acre Lakeview Village development. The Innovation District is expected to become a leading employment hub, featuring state-of-the-art offices, flex-spaces, and lab facilities for research, testing, and development of solutions in clean technology, life sciences, and information and communications technology.
To bring the Innovation District to life, Mississauga is developing a Community Improvement Plan (CIP) that could include a range of incentives to attract businesses and entrepreneurs to the area. Mississauga seeks feedback on potential incentives, including financial and non-financial measures, such as grants equivalent to post-development property tax increases, municipally funded parking assistance, and below-market municipal property.
Mississauga Lakeview Innovation
Mississauga Economic Development Office director Christina Kakaflikas emphasized the importance of waterfront redevelopments like Lakeview in fostering innovation, economic growth, and leading-edge technology. She highlighted Mississauga’s position as the second-largest employment hub in the Greater Toronto Area and the second-largest economy in Ontario, making the Lakeview Innovation District a key opportunity to create thousands of highly skilled jobs in growing sectors.
“Input from industry and the business community is key to the realisation of the Lakeview Innovation District,” Kakaflikas added in a release. “The city is committed to their success and will proactively listen to their ideas and work to meet their needs as we continue to plan our exciting new waterfront ecosystem.”
Mississauga’s survey, which runs through 21 April, seeks feedback and ideas on possible incentives and any other measures that could spur interest in the area. The Lakeview Innovation District seeks to become a renowned centre for innovation and new business, connecting researchers, entrepreneurs, and office and lab workers to local and regional transit, parks and trails, and residential, retail and cultural spaces.
Kakaflikas underlined Mississauga’s commitment to industry and the business community’s success and its proactive approach to listening to their ideas and working to meet their needs. After the survey closes, staff will consider all feedback and bring a report to the City’s Planning and Development Committee later this spring. The report will outline recommendations for the CIP, including financial tools and eligibility requirements.
Mississauga is home to 100,000 businesses, including 75 Fortune 500 companies with Canadian or major divisional head offices, and nearly 1,400 multinational firms.
[Read more: Ahead of the game or falling behind? Canada’s readiness for a borderless, global workforce]
