Timmins establishes centre of excellence.

• Position: NEWS - Northern College Timmins Campus

Northern College's Timmins Campus will be home to NEOnet (North Eastern Ontario Communications Network) and the newly established Centre of Excellence for Productivity and Innovation.

The centre aims to assist regional small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) build productivity and innovation capacity. The plan to establish the centre was put forward by the Timmins Economic Development Corporation. NEOnet and the centre will be housed in newly-renovated offices located in Northern College's B-Wing.

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NEOnet will provide the centre's services to SMEs with assistance from Northern College and other community partners.

Plans are in place to have the centre operational in 2014.

"NEOnet is excited about relocating to Northern College, as it brings together two regional organizations with the common goal of making northeastern Ontario a viable player in the world market," said Chris McLaughlin. director of operations at NEOnet, in an Oct. 7 statement.

"Our move aims to further enhance our working relationship with the college in order to provide small and medium-sized enterprises a sole location to address their marketing, technology adoption, applied research, and productivity and innovation needs."

The Timmins campus was selected as the site due to the...