Metro Vancouver Commerce (MVC) is a consortium of municipalities in the Greater Vancouver region that implements collaborative economic planning and development.The MVC partner communities include Surrey, Richmond, Vancouver, District of North Vancouver, City of North Vancouver, New Westminster, City of Port Moody, City of Maple Ridge and Coquitlam, who all participate in collaborative efforts to implement results-based trade and investment programs that benefit the region.
MVC developed a Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) program that leveraged the world-wide focus that accompanied the Olympics. During the Winter Games in February 2010, Metro Vancouver Commerce invite 50 companies (100 business guests) to Vancouver for an extraordinary VIP Olympic experience.
Executive guests spent four days at the Olympics in Vancouver, and were hosted by civic and business leaders from British Columbia. Impact Communications Ltd. was one of the local hosts and facilitated the participation of 8 corporate guests for this unique program.
Program Design
The delegate schedule was business focused, with a very high Business to Business (B2B) content. Interspersed with the business program will be Olympic experiences with sporting events and venue tours. The remaining duration was set aside for B2B meetings, tours, site visits, business brokering and events with BC leaders and businesses. To ensure success, MVC coordinated its efforts on programming with provincial and federal governments, industry associations, and business associations.
Qualifying Factors
The partners with MVC used the following elements to help determine the final invitation list for its business guests:
- Establishment of Office / Corporate Location;
- Creation of Employment in Metro Vancouver;
- Level of Investment;
- Timeline for entry to market;
- Technology / Knowledge Transfer;
- Green Economy Enterprise;
- Originates from a Priority Targeted Region and Sector;
- Potential for Additional Supply Chain Migration.
Targeted Sectors included:
- Environmental Technologies
- Renewable Energies
- Green Building Products
- New Media & Gaming
- Creative Sectors
- Wireless and ICT
- Aerospace
- Ag-biotech/Agri-Food
- Biotechnology/Life Sciences
- Financial and Business Services
Other targets include skilled labour attraction, value-added manufacturing (especially wood), high technologies with mobility and sustainability applications, and transportation systems.