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Program aids northern businesses integrate into digital age as pandemic speeds up process

Sep 14, 2020 | 11:02 AM

PRINCE GEORGE—A program to help maintain or expand small businesses into the digital economy is being funded by $254,000 from InnovativeBC (IBC) and Western Economic Diversification (WD) through the Innovation Central Society—Hubspace.

The program is called Digital Economy: Rapid Response+Resiliency (DER3) and will connect small and medium businesses with Advisors, Experts, Service Providers and other resources to help them adapt to a pandemic stricken world.

“COVID19 has sped up digital adoption by upwards of 5 years, and we’re here to help northern businesses catch up.”—Chris King, ICS – Hubspace’s Program Manager

DER3 is a no-cost, no-obligation program that will help connect small northern businesses, non-profits, and entrepreneurs to the resources they need to make and execute a personalized plan to adapt to these uncertain times.

On July 28th the Honorable Melanie Joly, Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages announced that Innovate BC would receive $2,950,000 in federal support, through WD, to help the BC Accelerator Network (BCAN) address the impacts of COVID-19.

“The opportunity we have here is astronomical, not only can we bounce back from this, we can create whole new industries and jobs for the north.”—Chris King, ICS – Hubspace’s Program Manager

Businesses in need of support can sign up here. The program will run through March 31, 2021, and is available to small and medium-sized businesses in the north.

Innovation Central Society – Hubspace is B.C.’s most northern Accelerator and serves an area of 650,000 square kilometres, from 100 Mile House to Lower Post, Valemount to Prince Rupert. Their mission is to help northern innovators along their journey to find new opportunities and grow our economy.