CELEBRATING A YEAR OF HUB350

By Melanie Coulson

Alot can change in a year. For Hub350, it’s when a space became home for Kanata North’s tech park.

When Hub350 fi rst opened a year ago, the world was just emerging from lockdowns and stay-at-home orders. People were returning to a new way of work – either hybrid or remote – and Kanata North’s businesses were starting to think about how physical space could capture the soul of their companies.

“We instantly saw adoption of our space as local member companies reached out looking for a place to gather, a home away from home to work and a place to hold off-sites for team meetings,” recalls Jamie Petten, KNBA’s president and executive director.

“The vision for Hub350 was to build a gateway to Canada’s largest tech park, a space to bring the community together to gather, a brand-new ecosystem for industry, academic and fi nance partners to co-exist and collaborate in the heart of Kanata North. This was our North Star before COVID hit and is still true today,” she adds.

Post-pandemic, the way we work may have changed, Petten says, but the desire for a gateway to the park and all of the incredible opportunities for connection and innovation that come with it hasn’t. The magic of reconnection is happening just as it was imagined.

“While we may have added more sound proof rooms and made sure Zoom capabilities are as important as a hot cup of coffee at Hub350, our vision for a community gathering space and anchor for the tech park couldn’t be more real.”

In the 12 months since it opened, Petten and her team have seen growth in the number of people using the space. Kanata North member companies use Hub350 for strategy sessions and team meetings, and the tech park’s member network uses it as a place to connect with local stakeholders.

Located at 350 Legget Dr. in Kanata North, Hub350 is where KNBA is able to bring its programs to life, as well as connect talent with the best in Canadian industry, academia and fi nance.

Discover Technata was one of Hub350’s successes over the past year, with more than 2,000 job seekers meeting with representatives from 50 companies. Since the event, the job board online shows continued

opportunities for skilled talent – with over 40,000 listed opportunities, and more than 1,000 of those in Kanata North.

“This is a healthy indicator of the demand that exists for tech talent in Kanata North,” Petten says. “Over the last year we have seen many of our member companies coming through the pandemic with high growth curves. Knowing their need for talent is real confi rms our focus on talent. Attraction and retention needs to remain a key priority of the KNBA.”

Another successful goal for Hub350 was to deepen the connection it has fostered between the tech park’s companies and the area’s academic institutions.

There’s a clear demand for this connection, given the sold out, over-subscribed Discover Technata Hackathon which launched in late September. More than 100 students from uOttawa, Carleton University, Algonquin College and La Cite – along with support from several industry professionals – signed up to tackle a sustainability issue using 5G in a challenge posed by local tech giant Ericsson.

In partnership with local accelerator L-SPARK, the KNBA will also build in Hub350 a Living Lab to showcase technology that is created in the tech park, along with a test centre. Recognized as Canada’s 5G innovation zone, the tech park is an ideal environment to test and deploy fi rst-tomarket solutions.

But Hub350 isn’t just about work. Another goal of the space is to create a vibrant culture. This has grown with volleyball leagues, food trucks, lunches and fundraising events.

One way KNBA will be celebrating the one-year anniversary will be the opening of the ROSS Video Digital Media Lab at the end of October.

“The powerful capabilities of this state-of-the-art studio can’t be understated,” Petten says.

But Petten and her team aren’t stopping after a year. They’re working on “what’s next” for Hub350.

“We will continue to build space and programming where talent can engage with industry, academic and corporate partners to solve real world problems,” Petten says. “This is a time of innovation, development and growth for our park and our team will be focused on the art of the possible.”