Centre for Local Innovation and Collaboration (CLIC)

The City of Richmond Hill has partnered with OCAD University to launch the Centre for Local Innovation and Collaboration (CLIC)! Funded by eCampus Ontario, this unique, design-driven centre for innovation is part of a broad-based approach to accelerating business growth and innovation.

CLIC exists to explore opportunities for local businesses to gain access to applied research and to leverage human-centred design expertise. 

CLIC Program

As a shared, co-creative undertaking, CLIC allows for multiple stakeholders — businesses, the municipality, researchers, and government — to work together to identify key areas of need and to optimize opportunities of project development.

This offering brings in expertise from Richmond Hill’s Small Business Enterprise Centre (SBEC) and OCAD University to help businesses review their offerings and business models through a design-thinking lens. Businesses will work together with OCAD University researchers to uncover market insights and develop new product/service opportunities. CLIC can then help businesses bring these new market insights into fruition by connecting them with local R&D opportunities available through government funding partners. CLIC looks to foster local innovation and the generation of new products, services, and partnerships. 

CLIC is growth in progress, and a unique offering within the larger innovation ecosystem for businesses that seek to harness the power of creativity and applied design research to expand their business operations.

Businesses that are interested in collaborating with CLIC can apply for the ‘Human Centred Design’ program. 

How to Apply

Applications are currently closed. Information about our next cohort will be posted in early 2024. To get notified when we are accepting Expressions of Interest, sign up for our eNewsletter here. 

CLIC Graduates  

2023

Cohort 1 - Spring    Cloud Constable    Edgecom Energy    Gibbly    KnowQuest    KROP Farming Technologies    MetaWorldX    ProtonFuels    Storeo    Technologies AIM Colours    Visiontif   White Tuque    Cohort 2 - Fall

2022

Charmy Pet released a KickStarter Campaign called 'Where East Meets West’ to launch their new line of frozen pet foods The company collaborated with Guelph University on a research project to assess the health benefits of including traditional Chinese herbs within their pet food products The co-founders of Charmy Pet appeared on Dragon’s Den in 2022 They expanded to over 800 store locations and launched in the US market as well     Partnered with Paragolf Canada to launch Curio Golf – a new piece of adaptive golf equipment created by Cheelcare. Curio Golf delivers unprecedented freedom and positioning to adaptive golfers looking to get out on the course and improve their game. Collaborated with Loyalist College to work on a research project for product development   Dear Snackers optimized their eCommerce website and scaled their marketing under the CLIC suppervision, which led to a five-times increase in online sales The company expanded to over 60 in-store locations The founder appeared on Dragons Den and received a deal offer from four out of five 'Dragons'. The company entered into a $100,000 deal with two of the 'Dragons' (Manjit Minhas and Michele Romanow).   HearBliss received a CLIC grant to help develop a new earplug that will filter specific frequencies that impact misophonia sufferers the most The company hired freelance experts to help in product design, analysis of the sounds, and acoustics.  It is expected that the prototype of a new earplug will be developed by the second quarter of 2023.     KnowMeQ participation in the CLIC program helped the company to participate in the Government of Canada’s Sectoral Workforce Solutions Program (via Employment and Social Development Canada) as a Lead Partner Through CLIC, the company made the connections with OCAD University, Northern College, and NGen Advanced Manufacturing Supercluster and ended up being the NGen Advanced Manufacturing Supercluster lead for $2.3M in funding over 19 months The CLIC grant helped KnowMeQ to complete the Recommender Tool with testing and validation During the CLIC graduation networking event, KnowMeQ started collaboration with another CLIC participant Sequence21 Studios The company hired 5 new staff in September 2022     Nerpy's collaboration with the CLIC team help them with their marketing insights  As a result, CLIC inspired Nerpy's to develop additional products based on the needs of the market The company is in discussion with Sobeys to add Nerpy’s products onto their shelves      One Smart World secured a micro-credential deal with the Manitoba Institute of Technology and Trades for their Smarter Meetings online course. This will be piloted with three of their sector councils including aerospace, the CME, and tourism & travel. Through a regionally based, Ontario government funded organization, One Smart World secured contracts to produce two programs based on their platform - one on employment readiness for women returning to work, and one on improving innovation in business by training teams how to accelerate collaborative problem solving and reduce cycle time using our system. The work with CLIC rekindled a partnership the company has with Devant and Academica Group to bring their solutions into post-secondary education - most recently with their recent contract with Fanshawe College   PharmaGuide   After graduating from the CLIC program, PharmaGuide went on to fund a research and development project in collaboration with National Research Council of Canada to enable pharmacies to predict their near-term inventory needs thereby decreasing costs and reducing waste The company is currently in the late stages of releasing the Smart Ordering Module which will leverage the machine learning model created as a result of this project. This feature should have a significant impact on revenue to PharmaGuide in the future. An increase in revenue projected to be $15 million over the next 5 years As the scope of the project grows, more staff will be hired PharmaGuide was accepted into a Google Cloud Canada’s accelerator program     Sequence21 Studios expanded upon their initial TakeONE service and has plans to launch a studio Increased revenue by around $7,000 by working with the City of Richmond Hill Collaborated with CLIC to create a summary video that was presented at Collision 2022 and the video is currently featured on the CLIC website    Inspired by the insights communicated through the CLIC team, Simple Movement begun the process of designing a marketplace for prospective eLearning clients and companies With the marketplace proposal, the company is expected to hire additional two team members (contract-based) to help execute the project

Questions

Email any questions about CLIC to clic@richmondhill.ca.