Local Economic Innovation

Calgary continues to be an attractive place to do business yet we have to ensure our competitive advantages can continue to support the needs of an evolving economy. Calgary has strengths across sectors. Many of these have been operating under the shadow of Oil and Gas and have also had to weather the ups and downs of the global oil market.

There is lots of talk about diversifying the economy. This is true, but what this really means is that many industries which are affected by ups and downs, like retail and food (restaurants), have a better base of stability to rely upon for consistency. Retail and restaurant can also be part of our diversification strategy when done alongside the growth of other sectors. 

Local retail and restaurants can be strong attractors for tourism. As we look to continually improve the climate around business operations, we need to ensure our processes and regulations which support these industries also encourage innovation. The recent passing of the patio extension is a great example of the City’s business friendly moves.

With vacancies across the city in retail spaces, I would like to see the City partner with leasing agents to support a pop-up retail strategy. Two to six month leases would help local goods based businesses try store-front spaces in a short term model to drive awareness and sales without the financial burden. This can also be part of an area’s business model, helping to bring activity to an area that is currently in decline.

Further to store-fronts, I would like the city to explore pop-up retail at parks in designated areas. Imagine exploring your favorite regional park and being able to get food from food trucks, or discover a local artist all while listening to a local musician. I believe the City can play an integral role in exposing Calgarians to local businesses through the parks and green spaces we have in abundance at our regional parks. This past summer a local company called SupNFlow was set up at Carburn Park. This is an excellent example of the City providing opportunities for recreation at our parks while supporting a local business. I spoke to this in my blog post about Civic Tourism. I want to enable this kind of activity in Calgary, and Ward 11 is the perfect place to start with three regional parks and great access to water.

The success of recreation, art, and food based businesses is contingent on the economic health of our city overall. Calgary continues to see growth in our tech based businesses and the City can continue to support growth in this area through key investments. There has been lots of talk around transforming vacant downtown office towers to residential but I’m wondering if we’re missing the mark on the transformation. Perhaps we need to look at the cultural structure of technology companies - should we instead be transforming existing office towers into layouts that support the open floor plan culture of technology based companies? By opening spaces up (ie taking down walls), towers can support a co-work model vision, creating spaces for actual co-work companies, or for small businesses to partner on spaces to lease in a shared environment. 

This kind of transformation can benefit more than tech companies. Marketers, realtors, artists, consultants - these are all people who may seek an office space outside of their homes. Downtown needs to be filled with all kinds of companies. When we create collision opportunities, people get creative and innovative, they build relationships, and businesses flourish. I have spent the better part of a decade being part of and creating these opportunities, and I want to bring this thinking to our City. I will stress, this model should and can exist outside of downtown as well.

The need to attract outside companies who bring external talent and work cultures to Calgary is important alongside local growth. This helps us grow our mindset and brings senior talent in new sectors to mentor junior talent. Often companies experiencing growth are looking for a home base for their company which matches their value model. Much of that attraction is the environment, both literally as in our parks and green spaces, but as well the lifestyle opportunities, low cost of living, great recreation, and other factors which make cities livable - education, healthcare, travel. This is why I will always keep sight on what the next generation of workers is looking for in a city, transit, bike lanes, parks. I will explore external attraction and arts and tech in the next blog post, and where the City can play a key role in their growth and development.

Kourtney