Through the Community Collaboration Projects, part of the Digital Main Street Future Proof Program and supported by the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario), the Government of Ontario, NORCAT, Communitech, and Invest Ottawa, WEtech Alliance engaged with local entrepreneurs and community partners to develop, implement and financially support tangible solutions to the three (3) key challenges highlighted through the Ignition program.
Shop My Town Leveraging Windsor-based Splice Digital’s innovative e-commerce platform, shopmytown, this project aims to connect local vendors with new and existing customers who like to shop local. During the duration of the project, platform fees will be reduced to 3% (from 12%). In addition, business owners will have complimentary access to dedicated Customer Success Teams, in partnership with Communitech’s Future Proof Transformation Teams, who can help business owners get online and sell within one business day. DETAILS
Entrepreneurs on the Front Lines Leveraging the Canadian Mental Health Association Windsor-Essex County’s programming and expertise, this project aims to provide free, tailored and on-demand support, programming and resources to business owners, entrepreneurs, and their staff with the goal of ensuring well-being is a priority. Business owners and entrepreneurs looking for immediate support and/or proactive support to making mental health a priority in their workplace/company, can access the following: Small Business Outreach Worker Pandemic Response Therapist, Mental Health Research and Entrepreneurs Toolkit and Mental Health Resources. DETAILS
Tech + Tourism: Sparking Tourism 4.0 Leveraging the Ontario Tourism Innovation Lab’s (OTIL) Spark Program, this project aims to connect tourism and hospitality-based businesses and entrepreneurs with technology experts and providers to create and develop new and/or enhanced tourism opportunities, ideas, experiences and partnerships to further support the future proofing of the tourism industry. The project will run in Windsor-Essex and Chatham-Kent in conjunction with the OTIL’s Spark Program. Up to $10,000 will be provided to one (1) of the winning Windsor-Essex and one (1) of the wining Chatham-Kent Spark program applications to support the technology development/adoption of their project. DETAILS
In-Store Contact Tracing Leveraging Windsor-based Red Piston‘s innovative user-friendly contact tracing solution, IDquickly.com, businesses will be able to meet local public health requirements safely by improving the customer experience for in-store contact tracing. In addition to providing reliable secure traceability for health units, IDquickly.com offers a simple and quick experience for a patron in a business. Instead of answering questions on a printed contact tracing sheet or memorizing a long URL listing in order to complete an online self-screening, patrons can simply scan a QR code on their mobile device and be directed to IDquickly.com. DETAILS