Welcoming Data Centres: What Every EDO Needs to Know

Date: Wednesday, September 16
Time: 10:40am
Room: Main Ballroom

Speaker: Mark Morrissey – Director of Innovation and Economic Growth, Sturgeon County

Description: Data centres represent a multi-billion-dollar frontier for municipal growth, but not every municipality is ready to capitalize on this unique and complex opportunity.  In this practical break-out session, Mark Morrissey of Sturgeon County pulls back the curtain on how their approach to data centres played a role in securing Meta's first data centre in Canada, and one of the largest greenfield FDI projects in Canadian history.  The development will create over 300 full-time jobs while generating millions in tax revenues and local infrastructure investments. 

Learn about how the County dealt with issues such regulatory and permitting approvals, electrical grid capacity, water and wastewater connections/capacity, incentives, public opinions, and shifting provincial policy.  These lessons will provide you with insights you can apply to accurately evaluate whether data centre development is right for your community and how they align with your long-term economic strategy.