Techopia Live sat down with the Kanata North Business Association’s new director of operations, Veronica Farmer, this week to hear about what’s coming down the line in Canada’s largest technology park.
Farmer started in her new role just a few days ago and will also take up a position as interim executive director with Jamie Petten about to take maternity leave. The longtime Kanata North resident told Techopia Live that she “cut her teeth” in marketing at Tundra Semiconductor and has since worked with a number of local tech firms as head of TrueCourse Communications.
The KNBA, which works with more than 500 companies in the area, is using a decidedly tech term to describe its growth plan: scale.
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“We’re really ramping up and scaling things,” said Farmer, who adds that there are more hires coming to the KNBA soon.
The business association is primarily tasked with marketing and advocating for its member companies, most of whom will gather at the upcoming AGM on Dec. 6. There, Farmer said the KNBA will present its strategic vision for the tech park’s future.
There are three pillars that vision will revolve around: attracting talent, building a thriving community of companies and harnessing the critical mass of firms in the area to do good beyond the tech sector.
“There are so many companies that are doing great things, they have social responsibility in their DNA, but how do we harness all of that and be able to put together something that drives purpose and impact?” Farmer said.
She also teased the results of a new economic impact study, which will show the tech park’s growth in the past three years since the last study was done.
There are plenty of reasons to be excited in Kanata North, according to Farmer. In addition to work in emerging sectors such as cyber and autonomous vehicles, she noted that she’s excited to work with incoming Kanata North councillor Jenna Sudds – the KNBA’s inaugural executive director – on issues relevant to the area’s tech firms.
To hear more from the KNBA’s new director of operations, watch the video above.
