CEO Bruce Lazenby said one of his first priorities at the meeting will be to address the "dearth of venture capital" through advocacy and yet-to-be determined partnerships with MaRS and similar incubators to lobby government.
Locally, Mr. Lazenby said he is working to address this by preselecting companies OCRI can mentor and subsequently present to potential angel and venture investors.
In an interview, he also reiterated his plan to facilitate the creation of a $25-million fund for Ottawa's technology sector.
Mr. Lazenby said it would be angel investors raising and distributing funds, rather than OCRI itself. That's a similar vision recently espoused by a Toronto-based economic development official Barry Gekiere, who recently told a Senate committee that incubators can play an active role in directing investors.
For example, MaRS's accelerator fund is three years old, supports 45 companies and has generated $72 million in follow-on investments, angel investors and seed-stage venture capitalists, according to Mr. Gekiere, managing director of MaRS' investment accelerator fund of MaRS.
"This makes us the most active seed investor in Ontario," Mr. Gekiere said Oct. 19 to the Senate's banking, trade and commerce committee.
He recommended the federal government match investments made by angel investors.
"Roll the dice, risk it, back these ... bright people."
The MaRS Discovery District brings researchers, entrepreneurs and mentors together in office and laboratory space in downtown Toronto. It has a specific focus on launching, scaling and growing early-stage companies in the life sciences, health care, IT, clean tech and advanced materials sectors.
Mr. Gekiere's comments come as OCRI is preparing to launch an incubator of its own.
The local agency is consolidating its operations in Little Italy and co-locating its entrepreneurship centre, the regional innovation centre, and a new business incubation centre.
OCRI will also host Invest Ottawa, a new economic agency co-run with the city to attract businesses in "key industry sectors" such as green energy, defence and life sciences.
Marketing plans are still bring drafed, including the process of using a domain name to advertise Invest Ottawa; both the .com and .ca versions of the name were taken by local entrepreneurs.
According to Mr. Lazenby, OCRI approached one of the entrepreneurs and was quoted a selling price above what the agency felt comfortable paying as a not-for-profit.
"We haven't decided (on a domain name) yet," he said. "We're working closely with the city and our advisers to make sure we pick ones that are good, and send the right messages out there."
