Hubs of Innovation: A playbook for place leaders was created in collaboration with the UK Innovation Districts Group, with research led by The Business of Cities and is designed for place-leaders, anchor institutions and larger stakeholders who play key roles in the innovation sector. The report provides guidance to those at different stages of maturity in developing innovation hubs and draws on best practices from existing hubs such as MediaCityUK in Salford, the Belfast Innovation District, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in East London and the Knowledge Quarter in Liverpool.

Behind the bot is Dayi Lin, a 28-year-old computer scientist who also lives in the area. His bot quickly amassed a following of a few hundred people within days of its creation and with no advertisement on Lin’s part — a testament to how residents in downtown east and west, where rates of COVID-19 are high, continue to exhaust every option available in order to secure a vaccine in the absence of a centralized, provincial booking system.

The organization, created by a Toronto-based web developer, shares up-to-date information on Twitter and Discord about eligibility and vaccine clinic locations across the country, and many have been using it to navigate the confusing process of booking appointments and getting that first dose. Volunteers monitor public health portals, vaccine clinic websites and tips from the account’s followers.

The online platform helps connect Canadian tech job seeker with employers; provides industry resources to transition to tech/work from home, and serves as a place for industry supporters to share their services, sessions, resources, etc.