The Olds Institute for Community and Regional Development has a mandate to develop a long term Economic Development Strategy for the municipality of Olds Alberta.
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Economic Development and Municipal Sustainability
Committees with the Institute include Investment Attraction, Business Retention, Community Lifestyle, Finance, Marketing, Opportunity ID, and Technology.
Are you looking for a community to invest in? Look no further than Olds, Alberta.
The Institute supports local business in their expansion plans, and encourages business to remain in Olds.
We are engaged in initiatives that enhance the social and economic development of the community of Olds.
Thanks to the financial support of our economic partners, the Institute is able to support the community.
Promoting the Olds Institute to its residents and business investors, and marketing the community to the world.
The Institute researches needs in the community identifying opportunities that will make Olds sustainable.
Olds will be one of the first communities in Alberta to offer fibre to the premises for residents and businesses.
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Technology - Finishing the Dream
| Technology | The Dream | Fibre Technology | Fiopt | Low Voltage Wiring | Connected Community | FTTH Survey |

OICRD has a goal - to make Olds the small and medium enterprise (SME) capital of rural Alberta. Back in 2002, an extensive community consultation identified Information & Communications Technology (ICT) connectivity to the SuperNet as being the critical issue necessary to make Olds a vibrant, sustainable entrepreneurial community with a quality of life that would retain and attract Alberta’s youngest and brightest. As an enabler, the Technology Committee was created by the Institute with the mission statement: "Our community encourages the deployment and utilization of ICT applications as enablers to the economic and social development of our region". The Tech Committee proposes to connect fibre to the premises (FTTP) in the Town of Olds through a Connected Community Network.

To this end, the Institute joined a group of like-minded organizations to pursue a grant through Rural Alberta's Development Fund. In January 2008, the Province announced that the South Central Rural Alliance would receive $2.5 million in start-up funding for the "Finishing the Dream" project. This will see SuperNet connectivity to 13 central Alberta communities including Mountain View County, Carstairs, Cremona, Didsbury, Sundre, and of course, Olds.

This project sets up Community Engagement Sites (CES) which provide "the next milel" of the SuperNet build, providing connectivity to rural communities by giving them a public site in their community where they can access broadband technology and learning applications.

In the end, there will be 12 Engagement Sites, all of which will have space that supports e-learning, one-to-one interviews, and community dialogue and innovation. Each space will be supported by video conferencing cameras, Smart Board and supporting technologies, printers and scanners, a DVD player, monitors, laptops or computers, telephone, speaker phones and video-conferencing IP phone, whiteboards, and other necessary technologies.
    You must have Adobe Acrobat to view this file. January 24, 2008 Press Release

The South Central Rural Alliance proposal is grounded in strong community support. The partnership includes the following key stakeholders:

  • Chinook's Edge School Division
  • Community Learning Campus
  • Mountain View County
  • Olds College
  • Olds Institute for Community & Regional Development
    • Olds Agricultural Society
    • Olds & District Chamber of Commerce
    • Olds College
    • Town of Olds
  • Sunchild eLearning Community
  • Town of Carstairs
  • Town of Olds
Essential Members   >>   Town of Olds | Olds & District Chamber of Commerce | Olds College | Olds Agricultural Society
Associate Members   >>   Chinook's Edge School Division | Mountain View County
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