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As of this afternoon, Kelowna's innovation centre is temporarily closed to the public to limit the spread of COVID-19.
If anyone can find a way to innovate during times like these, it's the tenants of the Innovation Centre. That may be why there were no complaints from the businesses in the centre when the closure was announced.
"We just felt it was a good time to limit the risk," said Director of Operations Dave Bachelder. Instead of push back from tenants, Bachelder said he received comments such as 'This is great,' and 'Thank you for doing this', he said.
And because of the nature of the activity in the Innovation Centre, the switch to operating remotely will not be difficult. "It's 95% tech," said Bachelder. "A lot of the tenants are operating remotely anyways." In fact, he noted that even prior to the announcement only about 15 tenants were in the building. Many had already made the decision to adapt on their own.
The announcement means restaurants in the building are also closed, including Gather Restaurant and Blenz Coffee.
Businesses will still have access to their offices, and they will still be able to use them when necessary, but the doors will be closed to the general public.
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