On September 10, 2009, it was officially announced that nGen will receive over $3 million from the Federal government’s Community Adjustment Fund (CAF). CAF is part of Canada's Economic Action Plan, the Government of Canada's strategy to ensure a quick recovery from the current economic downturn. By focusing on the creation of short-term employment to support communities and the sectors that contribute to their viability, CAF will play a distinctive role in relation to other economic stimulus measures included in Canada’s Economic Action Plan.

The funds received will be allocated toward the much needed expansion of nGen. Since nGen's inception, its programs have rapidly exceeded capacity and the initiative has now found itself in need of expansion in order to meet the needs of its emerging cluster. Through increased incubation and access to new technologies, nGen will be able to strengthen its sustainability as a hub for digital interactive media development in St. Catharines and the surrounding Niagara Region.

Breakdown of Funds:

The CAF funding will be allocated to a state of the art facility containing the following technology:

• Data Centre Infrastructure
• VOIP Services Installation
• Security system
• High-End Editing and Composition Suite
• Production Studio
• Audio Recording Facility
• Motion Capture System
• High Definition (HD) Screening and Presentation Theatre
• R&D Tool Set-up

For a more detailed and complete breakdown of how the funds received from the Community Adjustment Fund will be allocated within nGen, click here.

If you would like your company’s product/service to be considered in this phase of nGen’s expansion, click here. The deadline for applicants is November 9^th, 2009 at 5:00PM EST.

nGen is pleased to announce it has received a $54,300 grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation. With this grant, nGen has been able to hire a game designer, a graphic designer and programmers to work on the “1812: Interactive Niagara” hybrid, downloadable reality game. It allows us to extend the project beyond the initial historical boundaries of Niagara on the Lake. Read the press release here.

Tenant Updates

FourGrounds Media Inc.

FourGrounds Media is currently making preparations for the new renovations and technology infrastructure developments taking place within the nGen facility. The FourGrounds crew is anxious to make full use of the new facilities coming in and is excited to further assist in the future development of nGen and its services. FourGrounds Media, focused in video/digital film production and interactive web media, has been assisting in the planning and building process of the new nGen facility.

In other news, FourGrounds has completed and co-launched its www.knowfire.ca awareness initiative with partners Brock University, Niagara College, Niagara Regional Fire Chiefs Association and the Ontario Municipal Fire Prevention Officers Association-Niagara Chapter. This unique web-video fire safety campaign is directed towards university students and the 18-24-year-old demographic.

FourGrounds has also completed recent work for the Willowbank School for Restoration Arts in Queenston Ontario, a not for profit school for focused in restoring and understanding heritage properties across Canada (www.willowbank.ca).

FourGrounds continues to work with Brock University and its various departments developing rich media, event coverage, and web-video for its clients. FourGrounds is also in development stages of several research initiatives which will move into active development once the new nGen facilities are finished this coming spring. 

FourGrounds Media, along with project partner morro images, are in the development stages of a unique international co-production between Canada, Germany and Scotland.

Furi Enterprises

Furi Enterprises launched the investment attraction tool for nGen (www.odime.ca) in June, and the Furi team is now excited to work on nGen Phase II. As part of the steering committee for the expansion of nGen’s facilities, Furi Enterprises looks forward to assisting with the project. Furi Enterprises is currently wrapping up its 2009 projects, and will be launching their new website by the end of the year.

Dragonchess Interactive Inc.

Dragonchess Interactive has been busy completing the video game version of Dragonchess for Xbox Live Indie Games. Its team has been working on the artificial intelligence as well as tweaking the game’s control scheme. Over the next couple of months, those at Dragonchess Interactive will be play-testing the game, and hope to release it to the market by the end of 2009. In 2010, the goal is to extend Dragonchess to other platforms such as PC and iPhone.

Morro Images Inc.

Morro Images is currently busy preparing for the upcoming expansion of nGen’s facilities at One St. Paul Street. Morro is involved in the planning and preparing of the soon-to-be constructed MoCap Studio, Render Farm, 3D printer, 3D scanner, as well as the High-End VFX Suite. They are also entering the preparation phase of a stereoscopic full-feature film – further information on this project will be publicly announced during the summer of 2010.

Morro Images recently finished their first co-marketing campaign with FourGroundsMedia Inc., which involved sending out promo packages to advertising agencies across Ontario. DVDs and stickers from these packages are still available at the nGen office to anyone who is interested.

Other News

We are currently looking to collaborate with those in the community on new projects. If you have an idea for an interactive media project, please contact nGen’s Executive Director, Jeff Chesebrough, for information on how to become involved at nGen - jchesebrough@ngen-niagara.com .