Exploring Progressive Solutions: Innovating within the Regional Cannabis Sector is a three-year project that aims to understand the barriers and opportunities for the rural economic development of the regional cannabis sector and to co-design, co-pilot and co-evaluate viable action plans generated by diverse stakeholders.
Objectives
- Bring divergent groups from the Central Kootenay and Kootenay Boundary regions together who have a history of fragmented relations and a lack of trust to inventory place-based regional strengths.
- Follow the smart specialization framework for supporting regional innovation to identify where the region is at, develop tools, guide conversations, and identify and prioritize areas for investment and action.
- Develop refocused action plans and pilot between two and four select actions within the regional cannabis sector.
- Disseminate findings beyond the research team, study region and sector.
Research spotlight
Project team
Tracey Harvey
Research Director
Sarah Breen
Faculty Researcher
Pablo Pastor
Industry-Academic Liaison and Advisory Member
Project partners
Partners play a crucial role in the co-identification, co-development, and co-deployment of the research components of the project, including the literature review, policy scan and landscape assessment, as well as the pilot projects. Partners (to date) include:
- Sweetgrass Cannabis
- Antidote Processing
- Christina Lake Cannabis
- Lono’s Garden Paradise
- Community Futures Central Kootenay
- Community Futures Boundary
- Kootenay Cannabis Council
- Kootenay Rockies Tourism
- Canadian Cannabis Tourism Alliance
- Craft Cannabis Association of BC
- Nelson and District Chamber of Commerce
- Kootenay Association for Science and Technology
- Regional District Central Kootenays
- Regional District Kootenay Boundary
- Nelson MLA, Brittny Anderson
- Canadian Rural Revitalization Foundation
and more are welcome and anticipated to join us as the project progresses.
Project funders
The College and Community Social Innovation Fund (CCSIF) is a federal funding stream that offers up to $120,000 per year for up to three years. It supports projects that "foster community innovation by connecting the talent, facilities and capabilities of Canada’s colleges and polytechnics with the research needs of community organizations."
Student intern positions are additionally supported by Mitacs funding.