After sitting vacant for years, the old “building 13” in Cobourg formerly used as a depot for the military has now been transformed into a centre for entrepreneurship and innovation.
“You’ll find AR, augmented reality, virtual reality, you’ll find robotics and haptics, you’ll find digital marketing, (and) you’ll find clean-tech,” said John Hayden, Manager of Enterprise Programs at Venture 13. “What we’ve done with Venture 13 is we’ve provided a place for those startups to come in.”
Without a location for four years, Northumberland Makers is relieved to call Venture 13 its home.
“It’s really been a loose organization without a location until now,” said Colin Slade, vice president of Northumberland Makers.
READ MORE: Venture 13 business hub approaches completion
But they now have a space to to create, innovate and produce.
“We’re trying to have an environment where people can come and learn a skill and if they have an idea they’d like to pursue but don’t have the skill set they can come in, become a member and then find somebody with the skill set to help them with their project,” said Slade.
The 30,000 square foot building comprises three sections; an innovation commons, which is a space open to the community and public for rentals, a venture zone for startups to rent a private office or seat, and maker labs, where startups can work on prototypes.
Memberships vary from $20 a day, to $500 a month, or $1,000 a year.
Venture 13 received $2.1 million in investment, with support from the federal government, the town of Cobourg and Fleming College, to name a few.
Now open for just over a month, nine companies are currently operating out of Venture 13.
All of the business that come through these doors stay up to two years in the hopes that their time at the hub will allow them to move on to the next level in the Northumberland Region.