Vernon’s new innovation centre opens it doors to entrepreneurs

It’s time to innovate

Vernon’s brand-new innovation centre is now officially open for North Okanagan entrepreneurs and small business owners.

The Vernon Innovation & Entrepreneur Workspace, also known as The VIEW, opened on Tuesday in the old Naked Pig location at the corner of 30th Avenue and 30th Street. Accelerate Okanagan, who runs the Kelowna Innovation Centre, will be handling the operational side of things. In terms of how the centre came to be, it was conceived through North Okanagan organizations.

“The City of Vernon, Community Futures North Okanagan and the Martens were all integral in bringing this idea to life,” says Alex Goodhew, Community Manager for Accelerate Okanagan. “There was also support from community stakeholders who have been involved since day one – this was a grassroots community initiative, and we came in later to operationalize it.”

The VIEW offers a number of amenities, including boardrooms, desks for daily use, rentable office space, a lounge, a kitchen and more. These options are available for all local entrepreneurs to use for both a workspace and a networking area.

“There are over 14,000 small businesses and entrepreneurs in the North Okanagan, and it’s about time they finally had a space to call their own,” says Goodhew. “We hope to use The VIEW as a place that people and businesses can rent out for events and meetings once COVID restrictions loosen.”

For more information, you can visit The VIEW’s website.