The P.E.I. government has unveiled plans for a cleantech development it hopes will seed an innovation cluster on the island around renewable energy and other clean technologies.
In what it is calling a first for Canada, the government announced that the $25-million development in Georgetown will include a 60-acre business park as well as a 44,000-square-foot learning and innovation centre.
“The vision for this project is to establish an industry-led cluster and destination that attracts and facilitates the growth of companies, entrepreneurs and talent focused on advances in technologies, processes and knowledge that contribute to clean growth,” the province said in a news release.
“I think that is the importance of the announcement … we’re not just building industry, we are building an opportunity to be innovative,” Steven Myers, P.E.I. Minister of Environment, Energy and Climate Action, is quoted as saying in a CBC article.
The government says the park is planned to be the first tax-free cleantech development zone.
It will also be home to a cleantech academy, which will offer a cleantech leadership education, including at the master’s degree level.
The development is to be built in four phases, with site preparation slated to begin this fall.