The group responsible for bringing business to Quinte may have new industries to focus on in the future.

The Quinte Economic Development Commission is currently undertaking a target market study for the region to determine what sectors the commission should be focussing its attention on for investment attraction, the QEDC board heard Thursday at its monthly meeting.

QEDC chief executive officer Chris King explained that if the QEDC is going to promote the region to attract new businesses, it wants to know what business sectors it should be focussing on to have the best chance of success.

“Things change, lots of things happen so we get an outside set of eyes examine the local community… look at trends in terms of business growth and then come with recommendations to us about we as a community should focus on,” he said.

“We want to make sure we are on traffic and not focussing our efforts on areas where we don’t have a lot of opportunity, but focussing on those areas where we have the greatest chance of success.”

The analysis also looks at where the region is as a community in terms of workforce, industry clusters, business clusters and what trends are arising in the region.

King told the board that while some of the six areas raised by the study were familiar, there were a couple new ones.

“We know about the emerging cannabis sector so we some opportunities there and that’s one they really singled out,” he said. “The other one is the technology side. There is a growing tech industry here. We know there are opportunities to grow that even further.”

King said another new area is business services like engineering services and business process outsourcing that companies do

“There are some opportunities to attract those businesses to the region too,” he said. “And to no surprise, there are some traditional ones that provide good opportunities – advanced manufacturing, logistics, food processing.”

King, who said the QEDC likes to do the exercise every five of six years to make sure it is on track, said the commission has received the initial report and there will be some more discussions and research before that becomes strategies and recommended actions.

The QEDC board, which met at Henry's Place -- Signal Brewery, took a tour of nearby CPK Interiors prior to their meeting and King noted that the developing technology industry in the region could not only provide new opportunities for investment but could change several aspects of the community.

He noted that the Quinte region has a well documented skilled labour shortage, a shortage that could be addressed through technology.

“Our labour market is fully engaged,” he said. “If you drive by some of the manufacturing plants you see the help wanted signs, and we see a lot of that around.

“So what companies are looking at are adopting technologies into their processes, whether it’s robotics, advanced manufacturing systems, all sorts of different technologies which will help relieve some of those difficulties in hiring people.

“But that changes the profile and skill sets of the person you want to hire. So that reflects the kind of training we need to offer as a community.”

He said that extends to upgrading skills for people already in the workforce to ensure they can keep up with advancing technology.

“You have been working in this manufacturing plant but now you have to operate more advanced technology,” he said.  “So there is a requirement to do skills upgrading and those types of things as well.”

In other businesses, representatives from the economic development departments of the three cities involved in the QEDC – Brighton, Quinte West and Belleville – all reported strong interest from businesses coming to the region and from existing businesses expanding further.

As well, QEDC’s board heard that the Elevate Plus program, which helps connect jobs to people continues to thrive with a new cohort underway in Belleville and Trenton and one just starting in Brighton.