An announcement of $211,600 in Rural Economic Development (RED) funding kicked off the 2024 Clean Energy Frontier Conference.
Lisa Thompson, Minister of Rural Affairs and MPP for Huron Bruce, announced the cash infusion for the Nuclear Innovation Institute (NII) on Monday.
The funding will help with renovations and upgrades to the NII Advance Technology Campus, which is a first-in-the-region innovation, collaboration, and enhanced education centre located in the Municipality of Kincardine.
“The Nuclear Innovation Institute is dedicated to advancing new technologies in the clean energy sector and the Ontario Government’s RED investment of $211,600 will enhance NII’s hands on learning and training initiatives that will generate positive economic impacts throughout the region,” said Thompson.
The campus is a space to bring together companies in the clean energy sector to develop, share and adopt new and innovative technologies. As well, state-of-the-art technology will allow enhanced training opportunities locally, which means rural residents will have more academic options closer to home.
“With the Government of Ontario’s investment in the NII Advance Technology Campus, we will help bring higher education and training to rural Ontario,” said Stellina Williams, NII Vice President and CAO. “NII is dedicated to fostering collaboration and partnerships that prepare workforces for tomorrow, here in the Clean Energy Frontier region of Bruce, Huron and Grey counties and local Indigenous communities.”
“And we welcome organizations that play an active role in supporting the nuclear sector or related industry to explore the Campus—from short-term bookings and events to longer-term programming, we can accommodate a wide range of workforce development activities,” she added.
The RED program supports projects that diversify and grow local economies, build community capacity and address barriers to economic development and labour force challenges. Through the most recent intake of the RED program, the Ontario government is investing more than $5.7 million in 85 projects throughout the province.