The Business Retention and Expansion (BR+E) pilot project aims to help Columbia Basin communities better understand the needs of local businesses and the challenges they face. The first partner communities/organizations to pilot the BR+E included Greater Trail, Boundary, the Kootenay Association for Science and Technology and the Kootenay Rockies Innovation Council. These … [More]

The Rural Opportunities Network website was recently launched with the goal of helping small and medium-scale natural resource-based businesses in Canada succeed in a tough economic climate. The network is an open, bilingual network where people can access and share information on a diverse range of topics, from agroforestry to non-timber forest products to marketing and social … [More]

The West Kootenay-Boundary region is full of innovative entrepreneurs, businesses and organizations who have the passion to dream, the courage to pursue those dreams and the dogged determination and willingness to sacrifice what many would not to drive those dream into reality. Now is our chance to recognize and thank those innovative, enterprising businesses and organizations … [More]

The Productivity Initiative focuses on how business-support organizations can help address the issue of productivity and innovation in the region’s small and medium sized businesses. Led by the region’s Community Futures Development Corporations, this initiative includes background research on productivity and innovation, the development of a rural, small business focused … [More]

The RDI has partnered with the Canadian Regional Development research project in order to support case-study research being conducted in the Kootenay region. The Canadian Regional Development: A Critical Review of Theory, Practice and Potentials project is a multi-year research initiative funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. The project … [More]