Cobourg's Venture 13 innovation and entrepreneurship centre announces a new service designed for the telecommuter and independent consultant – the VentureZone Inn.
The Venture 13 Marketing and Communications Committee has devised the concept in response to membership requests. The name is inspired by the centre's leading pillar of innovation.
The press release from the Town of Cobourg said the new offering – available as of January – will consist of an all-inclusive co-working space located within the VentureZone, a flexible work and accelerator space made possible by the Northumberland Community Futures Development Corporation. It is designed for the telecommuter who prefers not to work from home and wants to avoid stressful real-life commutes as much as possible.
Each participant will receive a dedicated seat in the VentureZone Inn co-working desk space, which features high-speed fibre-connection wired and wireless capability. The participant also receives a dedicated locker and combination lock, plus access to private meeting space (booked as available on a first-come-first-served basis) – as well as discounted rates on booking the centre's Innovation Commons facilities.
Pricing is set at $125 per seat per month, though new members will receive a free 30-day no-strings-attached trial period.
The press release said this newest innovation is intended to strengthen Venture 13's offerings to Eastern Ontario and the Northumberland County community at large, enabling collaborations between technology innovators and working professionals in Northumberland, Toronto and beyond.
CFDC executive director Wendy Curtis said they are pleased to be expanding their community of entrepreneurs.
“Digital technology continues to advance at an alarming rate, allowing workers to be more mobile and flexible, providing employers the opportunity to offer remote work policies and solutions,” Curtis stated in the press release.
“At Venture 13, we want to capitalize on this by giving our entrepreneurial community access to yet another cohort for collaboration, idea sharing and diversification. As a whole, this will ultimately strengthen our innovation ecosystem that we are leading here at Venture 13.”
This new service reinforces the mission behind Venture 13, added Cobourg chief administrative officer Stephen Peacock.
“Creating an intentional combined working space of both technology and entrepreneurial start-ups and a professional telecommuting workforce will create knowledge-sharing collisions between varieties of change makers within Venture 13.”
For more information on the VentureZone Inn, visit www.venture13.ca and click on Join Us and VentureZone, or drop into the facility at 739 D'Arcy St. for a tour of the new space.