SNCIRE: Skeena-Nass Centre for Innovation in Resource Economics

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SNCIRE 2012 Annual General Meeting

Join us at SNCIRE’s 2012 annual general meeting!

Monday, May 28, 2012 @ 6:30 pm

Skeena 1 Room, Best Westerm Terrace Inn

Terrace, BC

Guest speakers
Leaders of three post-secondary institutions in Northwest BC will kick off the evening's discussion by presenting their thoughts on education's role in creating a diverse natural resource economy in our region:

UNBC President and Vice Chancellor Dr. George Iwama
WWNI President and CEO Deanna Nyce
NWCC Vice President of Institutional Advancement Dave O'Leary

Download their bios here.

Voting
We will be voting for new directors. We welcome you to nominate someone before or at the meeting. Get in touch if you've got someone in mind.

We'll also be voting on two special resolutions regarding the society's purposes and bylaws.

Please note that only members who have paid their 2012 fees can vote. If you haven't paid yet, bring your $50 membership fee with you to the AGM.

Not in Terrace?
If you are unable to attend in person but would like to join via phone or internet please let us know by Friday, May 18. We will set up remote access. SNCIRE is always looking for the most convenient way to make our events more accessible to all of our members throughout the region. If you have any suggestions, please let us know.

Invite your friends
This AGM is open to the public. The more the merrier. Feel free to invite anyone you think would be interested the guest speakers and SNCIRE.

We'll provide snacks and some prizes too!

Click here for a complete meeting agenda.

RSVP

Plan on coming? Great! Please RSVP by clicking here. We want to make sure we have enough snacks for everyone.

Beyond Lumber - Art from Nature Conference & Art Show

small beyond lumber

Calling all Northwest BC artists and artisans who work with natural materials!

Help us shape this event!

Tell us what workshops and speakers you'd like by filling out this survey monkey questionnaire by Thursday, May 10, 2012.

Beyond Lumber - Art from Nature

The purpose of this event is for artists and artisans who work with natural fibres – such as wood, bark and other natural materials - to gather, share, and learn from industry experts and business leaders how to succeed in the art world. The event will have two parts: a conference for artists and artisans, and a public art show.

The conference portion of the event will take place Friday and will include workshops and speakers. The art show will start Friday evening and finish end of day Saturday. At the show, artisans and artists participating in the conference will display and sell their arts and crafts. The art show will be promoted to locals and tourists throughout the region.

SNCIRE is hosting the Beyond Lumber - Art from Nature Conference & Art Show in partnership with Skeena Diversity Society and Northwest Community College.

Stay tuned for more info!

A Framework for Regional Collaboration

Building on the regional leadership focus group’s work in 2011 and the consensus of opinions SNCIRE has heard that supports the conclusions of the focus group, SNCIRE is promoting a Framework for Regional Collaboration in the Northwest. Download the March 16, 2012 framework document.

Not only are there potential cost savings and efficiencies in communication across local governments, agencies and corporations, but regional collaboration will also provide an innovative means for establishing regional priorities. This suggests that we can influence and focus applied research and innovation efforts within the region, which makes establishment of Regional Collaboration a priority for SNCIRE.

Opportunities for implementation of this framework in 2012 exist across several sectors, including Economic and Business Development (e.g. through the stakeholders supporting the Invest in Northwest BC website and the NWBC Economic Network); Education and Skills Development (e.g. through a proposed Regional Workforce Table, and implementation of the Northwest Transmission Line Human Resource Strategy); and Health and Wellness (e.g. through the Welcoming Communities program).

Knowledge Building for a Bio-Products Economy

In September of 2011 SNCIRE filed a project application with the federal government's Community Development Program. The proposed project is called "Knowledge Building for a Bio-Products Economy".

SNCIRE is continually seeking ways to diversify and strengthen our resource economy. One trend that is emerging globally in forestry is the creation of "bio-products" such as forest biomass conversion into energy and chemicals, non-timber forest products, bio-pharmaceuticals, etc. With multiple innovative uses of our region's natural resources, we could ensure long-term sustainability for the region.

The project would address several knowledge gaps and barriers to sustainable development:

- Market intelligence on the bio-product potential of the region's resources;
- Technical properties of the region's wood in relation to promising bio-products; and
- Estimates of the cost of extracting and delivering wood fibre to proposed processing facilities.

The project has the support of the Regional District of Kitimat-Stikine, the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC), FP Innovations, and Forestry Innovation Investment (FII). The National Research Council - Industrial Research Assistance Program may also become a partner.

Regional economic development stakeholders would also be involved, initially through participation in a steering committee that would monitor and guide the project to ensure it produces results they can use, and then - as information becomes available from the UNBC and FP Innovations research - by using the information and tools to attract investors and new operators.

We will keep you up to date regarding this funding application and proposed project as news becomes available.

Website Showcases Region to Investors

A new website showcasing the Skeena-Nass region to the world has just been launched:

www.investnorthwestbc.ca

The polished and professional site is intended to be a promotional and informative source for potential investors (and others), and delivers with features like dynamic map information about projects & investment opportunities, detailed community profiles, infrastructure information, great pictures, and much more. Even more features are planned, like translation into other languages (one investment opportunity brochure is already available in Chinese), and ability to "zoom in" to a community level to learn about smaller projects and investment opportunities.

A collaborative effort between numerous northwest communities, economic development organizations, and funders (see the full list at the bottom of the website's home page), the website has great potential to attract new investment to our region.

SNCIRE congratulates everyone involved in the website's development!

For more information about the website, contact any of the participants involved in its development.

News Release - Skilled labour shortage may impact projects

SNCIRE's Executive Director Rick Brouwer is a member of a steering committee developing a human resource strategy for the Northwest Transmission Line construction project. A report from the committee has identified some significant issues, and in response SNCIRE issued a news release to the media and its members on August 24th 2011.

News release

Summary report

Regional Contact List

SNCIRE is working with a number of other organizations toward creating a regional alliance of economic development stakeholders. As this work progresses, participants have identified the need for a contact list that contains information for the many organizations, economic development offices, agencies and governments in the region. SNCIRE has now posted such a list.

Click here to view (and download) the list, which contains the mailing address, telephone number, fax number, and website for more than 70 organizations, agencies, economic development offices, and governments in the Skeena-Nass region.

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