Massachusetts Institute of Technology Regional Entrepreneurship Acceleration Program
Massachusetts Institute of Technology Regional Entrepreneurship Acceleration Program (MIT REAP) is a global initiative that engages communities from around the world to stimulate inclusive and Innovation-driven entrepreneurship (IDE).
Team Cape Breton Strait was formed as one of five teams across the Province of Nova Scotia in 2020 to participate in MIT REAP Focus Nova Scotia 2021, a program facilitated by MIT, with support from partners at One Nova Scotia, and ONSIDE to help ignite and drive Nova Scotia’s innovation capacity.
Members of Team Cape Breton Strait pose for a photo with members of the other REAP teams across the Province, along with partners at ONSIDE and faculty from MIT in Boston, MA in June of 2022.
Throughout the 24-month journey, Team Cape Breton Strait was able to identify four Must-Win-Battles to help the region overcome its barriers to innovation development. After participating in an immersive program, attending workshops, meetings, and visiting and learning about other IDEs across the province, the team has created a comprehensive strategy to not only grow Unama’ki – Cape Breton’s IDE community, but provide support that IDEs need to thrive here.
Here you will find information about the team, along with information on the Must-win Battles that have been identified and the local strategy that has been developed to support this work.
Team Cape Breton Strait is composed of entrepreneurs, corporate, academic, municipal, venture capital, and economic development leaders from across the region.
The composition of the core team changed with a few members departing, and a few joining at various stages of the program. The team is committed to inclusivity and ensuring all stakeholders voices are heard and are continuing to pursue partnerships with the Unama’ki community as the map to foster IDEs in the region unfolds.
Current Team
Brenda Chisholm-Beaton, Team Champion and Mayor of the Town of Port Hawkesbury
Tyler Mattheis, MIT REAP Project Manager and President & CEO of the Cape Breton Partnership
Amanda Mombourquette, Community Innovation Lead at NSCC: Strait Area Campus and Warden of Richmond County
Carla Arsenault, Principal at NSCC: Marconi Campus
Geoff Clarke, Director of Business Development, Port Hawkesbury Paper LP
Chad Munro, President & CEO Halifax Biomedical
Captain Iaian Langley, Master Mariner, Atlantic Pilotage Authority
Captain Vivek Saxena, Principal at NSCC: Strait Area Campus
Grace MacIntyre, SuperPort Marine Services
Support
Colleen Wheeliker, Strategic Relations Advisor, Cape Breton Partnership
Carly Appleton, Communications Coordinator, Cape Breton Partnership
Team Cape Breton Strait is composed of entrepreneurs, corporate, academic, municipal, venture capital, and economic development leaders from across the region.
The composition of the core team changed with a few members departing, and a few joining at various stages of the program. We thank and acknowledge the original core members who contributed to this process, and appreciate your expertise and input in making this a successful journey.
The team is committed to inclusivity and ensuring all stakeholders voices are heard and are continuing to pursue partnerships with the Unama’ki community as the map to foster IDEs in the region unfolds.
The original Core team was made up of representation from five stakeholder groups – Government, Risk Capital, Education, Entrepreneur and Corporate.
Thank you to all of those who participated and dedicated their time to this initiative.
Original Core Team
Brenda Chisholm-Beaton, Core Team Champion and Mayor of the Town of Port Hawkesbury
Carla Arsenault, Core Team Manager, and former President and CEO, Cape Breton Partnership
Jim Kehoe, President and Owner/Operator, Joneljim
Captain Vivek Saxena, Principal, Strait Area Campus, NSCC
Rod Googoo, Former Chief, We’koqma’q First Nation Unama’ki
Edgar Samson, President and Owner/Operator, Premium Seafoods Ltd.
Bob MacEachern, President and Owner/Operator, King Mac/Maple Signs
Blaire Martell, President and Owner/Operator, Lobsters-R-Us
Grace MacIntyre, Vice-President, Superport Marine Services
Allan Eddy, Manager of Business Development, Port Hawkesbury Paper LP
Support:
Morgan Murray, Innovation Officer, Cape Breton Partnership
Colleen Wheeliker, Executive Assistant, Cape Breton Partnership
Throughout the 24-month journey, the team was able to identify four Must-Win-Battles to help the region overcome its barriers to innovation development.
The Must-Win-Battles include: developing programing and operations at Apaq’t Place/ Ocean Innovation Centre in the Town of Port Hawkesbury to serve IDEs in the Offshore Wind industry, hosting an innovators retreat, and taking steps to develop a Rising tIDE fund that will help address the regional gap in venture capital for innovation.
Here are some of the key activities the team completed over the course of the program to inform the future of the IDE landscape on Cape Breton – Unama’ki.
To view the partners in more detail, click on the image.
Must-Win-Battles:
Building off the work and initiative that the Partnership previously launched called Creative Island, the team worked together throughout the program to assess the current state of the IDE landscape in the region to determine the Must-Win-Battles and barriers to achieving them, while celebrating Unama’ki – Cape Breton’s deep historical roots in the name of innovation.
Below is information about each of the Must-Win-Battles that have been identified, what the team has done or will be doing to remove barriers and what you can expect to see unfold in the region in the future.
To help build a Regional Innovation-Driven Entrepreneurship (IDE) Directory, the team enlisted the expertise of Shawn Green from VMP Group to help identify how many startups reside on the Island and where they are located. This project uncovered that the voice of rural IDEs have largely been missing for some time in the region, particularly as it relates to considerations for policies and programs. To help address this, the creation of a regional
IDE contact database was created as a tool to achieve the following:
- Better understand the history and mix of IDEs operating in the region,
- Identify IDE trends, sectors, and industry clusters, and
- Discover opportunities for improved outreach and communication with regional IDEs.
The team recognized that to build IDE capacity in the Cape Breton Strait region, there is a need to have a physical location that serves as an Innovation hub for IDE and Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), and entrepreneurs where they can access on-site or satellite programming/services to assist with their research, product development, or testing. Creating this workspace will also provide those working in the space and industry with a collision space to collaborate with other IDE and SME entrepreneurs.
Some milestones that have been reached to date are:
- Ocean Innovation Centre on Port Hawkesbury’s waterfront.
- An initial focus group session held with First Nations, post-secondary,
Municipal, venture capital, corporate, entrepreneurs, and innovation stakeholders at the Strait of Canso Yacht Club in 2019, with a site visit to the “Creamery” Building, now known as the Ocean Innovation Centre.
- The Ocean Innovation Centre received an infusion of $1 Million in renovations, and Nova Scotia Community College Nautical Institute has become an anchor tenant.
The Rising tIDE fund is an opportunity for the Province of Nova Scotia to grow an Innovation Ecosystem with private investors, entrepreneurship and other stakeholders. The Province as a limited partner with private equity can fill the regional gap in venture capital to grow Nova Scotia based innovation-driven enterprises.
Learn more about the Rising tIDE fund
IDE Focus Sessions / Retreats
Using the Quality Function Deployment (QFD) model, deeper ongoing engagement with regional IDEs represents a critical step in ensuring that a supportive IDE community is created and maintained. An annual retreat, focus session, or series of similar engagement activities has been identified as an important exercise in supporting this model.
Building on Offshore Wind as an emerging sector, the team identified the need for an Offshore Wind Research Centre for Nova Scotia. Step one will be to create a Business Plan to establish the Centre in the Cape Breton Strait region. This is a necessary step to attract and support rural IDEs seeking to capitalize on the region’s combination of wind resources, and abundant comparative advantages. The establishment of a physical research centre in the newly created Ocean Innovation Centre will help the industry grow while using the ample supply of industrial and waterfront space and infrastructure throughout the Strait of Canso.
In Nova Scotia, Offshore Wind is being pursued as a renewable resource capable of producing green energy at the scale required to meet market demands, while helping reduce Canada’s carbon footprint. The Strait of Canso Offshore Wind Taskforce was formed to help ready the region and its stakeholders for an emerging industry by working alongside industry partners and experts to ensure the responsible, sustainable, and inclusive development of the offshore wind industry across the province.
The work of the Task Force aligns with the Government of Canada’s Federal Sustainable Development Strategy 2022-2026 and Canada’s 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan. Development of five-gigawatts of offshore wind in Nova Scotia by 2030 will be the starting point to increase access to clean energy for Canadians, reduce GHG emissions, and create clean fuel exports to stimulate economic growth and provide Canada’s international partners with reliable and secure energy.
Team Cape Breton Strait’s participation in the program was made possible through the Province of Nova Scotia’s Regional Enterprise Network model. There are seven RENs located across the province, with two located on Cape Breton Island. Through the REN model, a collaborative approach is being taken to economic development and supporting business growth in rural communities across the Province.