Niagara College’s hub for entrepreneurialism has a new space.

Above: NCSAC president Shane Malcolm; dean of Business, Hospitality and Tourism Vivian Kinnaird; college president Dan Patterson; dean of Media, Trades and Technology Misheck Mwaba; project manager, ncTakeOff Rachel Crane; and vice-president Academic Steve Hudson participate in a ribbon-cutting ceremony for ncTakeOff's new Think Tank.

About 70 people attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the opening of the Think Tank on April 6. The new workspace is intended as a space where innovative students from across disciplines and programs can gather together to dream, connect and create. It is located adjacent the Business faculty admin offices at the College’s Niagara-on-the-Lake Campus (W311).

“It’s wonderful to see so many students, staff and faculty who are curious to see what the Think Tank is all about. The curiosity that brought you here is, after all, the very attribute that we want to cultivate more of. This is the starting point of great ideas and innovations,” said college president Dan Patterson. “This collaborative workspace will allow for more opportunities like this, that bring innovative students together to cross paths, explore synergies and spark the necessary creative processes that lead to community, new ideas and even new businesses.”

ncTakeOff is an On-Campus Entrepreneurship Activities initiative of the Government of Ontario under the Youth Jobs Strategy, managed by Ontario Centres of Excellence. Since its launch event in February 2015, where the college President was joined by 180 faculty/staff, students and community members, ncTakeOff has hosted programming on-campus, like mentor presentations, networking events and entrepreneurial education workshops, as well as facilitated connections between student entrepreneurs and off-campus service providers, for business development resources like Summer Company.