Mississauga Launches New IDEA Innovation Identity and Solidifies Position as Global Leader in Innovation

Today, Mayor Crombie and councillors joined Mississauga’s Economic Development Office to officially launch the new identity for Mississauga’s innovation district, IDEA Mississauga, and advance Mississauga’s position as a global leader in innovation.

IDEA Mississauga does not represent one specific location in Mississauga – rather, it represents the city’s entire ecosystem made up of industry, government, education, and providers of space and programs that support innovation. IDEA Mississauga will grow and expand to service local entrepreneurs and enhance the services and initiatives in the entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem.

“With our diverse and growing economy and our location in the heart of the Toronto-Waterloo Innovation Corridor, Mississauga has built an incredibly strong innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystem,” said Mayor Crombie. “What’s so exciting about the launch of IDEA Mississauga is that it brings all of our innovation resources and assets together, making it much easier for entrepreneurs, start-ups and scale-ups to get the support they need to grow and thrive in our City.”

IDEA Mississauga Virtual Innovation Hub

To showcase innovation activity and assets within IDEA Mississauga, the City has created a new Virtual Innovation Hub – IDEAmississauga.ca. The virtual hub is a place for entrepreneurs, innovators and scale-up companies to connect with IDEA Mississauga and become part of a leading innovation community and access regional supports and resources to start and grow their business. The site features a number of tools and assets that can help make the start-up and scale-up journey easy. Businesses can easily navigate through the site to find:

• A concierge tool that generates a customized list of resources catered to unique business needs
• An innovative asset map that contains over 135 industry, government, education and services providers that are oriented around the growth of start-ups and innovative entrepreneurs
• Business experts and mentors
• Training webinars and networking opportunities
• Innovation news and success story spotlights

“We are committed to supporting our business community, and we’re excited to take the next step in advancing our innovation ecosystem,” said Bonnie Brown, Director, Economic Development Office. “With the launch of IDEA Mississauga, we will leverage our partnerships and continue to collaborate and create a community that brings together all innovative connections and assets – from government to entrepreneurs to industry. IDEA Mississauga brings together a rich network of mentorship, partners, talent and connections to test, scale and commercialize solutions to global challenges.”

IDEA Mississauga advances the Council-endorsed goals of The Entrepreneurship and Innovation Study (2019) and Economic Development Strategy (2020,) to strengthen Mississauga’s innovation performance and Mississauga’s Strategic Plan (2009) goal to be a ‘global city for creativity and innovation’ by cultivating creative and innovative businesses.

Learn more about IDEA Mississauga at ideamississauga.ca.