As a local government, the City of Markham works closely with diverse stakeholders including local businesses, academic partners, home grown incubators, business/ professional associations and networks, as well as different levels of government to drive innovation in established companies and stimulate new business formation and growth.

Project: Electronic Plan Review Project (ePLAN)

The building application and plan submission and review process has remained unchanged in the industry for many decades.

Most significant projects required clients to engage in several independently run manual application processes. Applicants would submit multiple physical copies for proposed plans and the municipality would “redline” and mark up the paper plans. Documents that had originated electronically such as applications, drawings and studies needed to be printed, delivered to the City, filed and processed in paper form. Reviews would be impacted by the number of copies available and the number of reviewing disciplines/specialities required to process the proposal.

Collaboration between staff and the applicants could only happen in person as physical access to the plans was required. Skilled technical staff would spend hours stamping up and redlining multiple copies of paper and loss of files was a regular occurrence. The sequential, paper-based approach resulted in wasted space and resources, errors and omissions, multiple iterations and long cycle times.

Collaboration: ventureLAB

ventureLAB is a leading technology hub, innovation and incubation centre located in the City of Markham. With a significant tech cluster (the highest per capita concentration of tech companies among major Canadian cities), Markham is home to over 354,000 Canadians, 176,000+ jobs and 1,500+ technology companies that support over 37,000 jobs. Markham provides a direct funding contribution to the operation of ventureLAB and City of Markham senior management is represented on its board.