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Niagara Falls Five Year Economic Development Strategy

The City of Niagara Falls Business Development Department has retained Stiletto Consulting to create a five-year strategy that will guide the City’s economic development activity within the community to support efforts on a regional, provincial, federal and international basis.

Have your say! Your input on the Economic Development Strategy is encouraged. Your feedback will help us understand strategic requirements and expectations, which will help ensure the Strategy reflects the local business community’s thoughts and needs.

Online Survey | Complete the Economic Development Strategy Survey now by following this link: https://surveys.niagarafalls.ca/s3/Municipal-Economic-Development-Strategy-for-the-City-of-Niagara-Falls

For additional information, visit our Let’s Talk Page: https://letstalk.niagarafalls.ca/economic-development-strategy

FedDev Ontario Business Scale-up and Productivity Program

FedDev Ontario has opened funding under the Business Scale-up and Productivity stream. This stream helps to accelerate the growth of businesses and assists with the adoption of new, innovative technologies that support scale-up, productivity, and the development of and entry into new markets helping companies become globally competitive.

Applications can be submitted for no-interest, repayable contributions from $500,000 up to $10 million per project.

Funding is available to:

• Assist high-growth firms to scale up and expand.

• Support technology demonstration and the commercialization of new technologies.

• Encourage the early adoption or adaptation of leading-edge technologies and processes to improve productivity.

• Increase businesses’ capacity to grow through market diversification and entry into global markets.

• Foster innovation, technology adoption and digital connectivity in rural areas.

Click here for full program guidelines and to learn more about the program

Southwestern Ontario Development Fund

The Southwestern Ontario Development Fund (SWODF) provides support for projects and investments to businesses, municipalities and not-for-profit organizations for economic development in southwestern Ontario. The fund supports projects that:

• Create jobs and build talent

• Attract and encourage private sector investment

• Lead to business growth and broad positive economic impacts

• Encourage innovation, collaboration and cluster development

Businesses can apply for up to 15% of eligible project costs; with interest free loans or grants available in specific circumstances. Funding is available from $500k - $5M.

For more information, visit the SWODF page.

Niagara Economic Development releases Niagara Economic Update

NED has released the latest bi-annual Niagara Economic Update report. The report includes a macroeconomic overview of the region’s economy with projections for 2023 covering GDP, retail sales, CPI, international trade, business counts, investment in building construction, income, and labour.

You can read the full news release here, and download the full Niagara Economic Update here.

Small Business Grand Openings

September featured two new small business openings. Congratulations on your opening and welcome to the Niagara Falls business community. For more information about each business, follow the links below:

J. Casimir Scrubs (4400 Queen Street) - Website & Instagram

The Antidote Apothecary (4658 Queen Street) - Instagram