By Jack Brittle, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Last week, TechPlace held its annual open house at 5500 N Service Rd., the organization’s headquarters.
Entrepreneurs, mentors, and elected officials all gathered in Suite 801 of the building to showcase products and ideas and discuss strategies to strengthen Burlington’s place in the tech world.
Startup businesses were set up in all corners of the suite, in offices and on desks, with prototypes or videos set up, displaying their products or services.
One such business was HARvEST Systems Inc. Jeff Girard was in attendance on behalf of the company and explained the service they provide.
“We do heat recovery from commercial cooking appliances,” Girard said. “We capture the heat from an oven or fryer, which would be typically wasted, and then use that heat to provide hot water and space heating. It saves a restaurant money and also lowers greenhouse gas emissions.”
HARvEst has been incorporated since 2018 and has done pilot projects with Pizza Pizza, which was discussed in the video that looped on a tablet in their allocated space. They are looking to go into production next year.
Girard said the collaboration with Pizza Pizza went very well.
“We hit everything that we needed to do,” Girard said. “Their ovens provided all their heating.”
Effie Triantafilopoulos, the MPP for Oakville North-Burlington, and Paul Sharman, Ward 5 councillor, attended the event and spoke about the beginnings of the TechPlace open houses.
“This goes back many years,” Sharman said. “The Economic Development Corporation probably started up right about 2014. After a few years, we realized we had this astonishing opportunity to grow and help technology companies grow.”
Burlington Economic Development Corporation created TechPlace and continues to operate it.
“It was in the context of understanding that technology was going to be the core of the economy going forward,” Sharman continued. “And so we had this opportunity to get this building, the office, and partner with the Hamilton Innovation Factory. We were able to set up a very competitive business, and it was an instant hit.”
Sharman said that the annual open house acts as a celebration of the success that TechPlace has had since its inception.
“We’ve had hundreds of people who have been through these doors,” Sharman said. “They’ve started businesses and grown them, many of them, to be now many millions of dollars in revenue.”
As an example of what happens at TechPlace events, Sharman mentioned a person he was meeting at the open house who is involved in the healthcare sector. Sharman is involved in the deployment of a system to help take care of seniors in their own homes and said that meeting people who have ideas about how to better that system is just one example of the collaboration that the event facilitates.
Sharman also said that the startups in attendance are not just ones located in Halton.
“We have people from Latin America here,” Sharman said. “And that’s why you’ll see Angel One and the Innovation Factory. Because their job is to bring people who have talent, and a desire to do something meaningful together so that they can achieve their goals.”
TechPlace runs its signature program, LaunchPad, out of its headquarters, with private offices for up to ten companies and hot desk space for many more businesses, allowing them to take advantage of the proximity to other startups and TechPlace’s vast network. There’s an event space to host events such as the annual open house, and TechPlace also offers free digital transformation coaching consulting via Digital Main Street programs.
“It’s about providing the opportunity and environment where there are like-minded people who can pursue their dreams and take advantage of the environment and the services that we can provide,” Sharman continued. “Because, frankly, this kind of a vibe is very rare. You know, you can go and rent an office and you can struggle away, without any people around. But here you’ve got all the infrastructure in place to make it feasible, and you also have access to people’s services, Angel One, Innovation Factory, and other services, to start and grow your business.”
To find out more about TechPlace, including information on how to become a member or apply for private office space, visit https://www.techplace.ca/.
