Toronto Regional Scale-up Consultation: Challenges and choices

Executive Summary

On September 7, 2017, the Brookfield Institute for Innovation + Entrepreneurship hosted a Toronto regional consultation on behalf of the Ministry of Economic Development & Growth to help inform the development of an Ontario Scale-Up Strategy. Thirty-one stakeholders attended including 21 executives of Toronto-based scale-up companies and 10 ecosystem players (see Appendix A). Participants divided up into six groups, each focusing on one of the pillars guiding consultations on the Scale-Up Strategy. They explored three sets of questions:

1. What are the key barriers you face as a scale-up? (What key barriers do the scale-ups you work with face?)
2. What do you think are the root causes of these barriers?
3. What are the most useful programs/resources you have accessed to overcome these barriers? What additional solutions would be most helpful?

This report synthesizes the insights and perspectives participants shared during the consultation.