VANCOUVER
ASIA-PACIFIC GATEWAY
9 HOURS
TO LONDON, BEIJING, AND BRAZIL
NEXUS
ROBUST TRANSPORTATION MEETS
INBOUND+OUTBOUND
NEEDS
BETWEEN ASIA, NORTH AMERICA,
SOUTH AMERICA, AND EUROPE
institutions whose networks span the globe, and in
sectors of the regional economy that also have global
impact. These include the technology and video game
sectors, which recruit great local talent here, and design
and produce for many markets, relying on their culturally
diverse workforces to ensure their products (e.g., business
software, mobile video games) will be successful and
applicable in North America and beyond.
firms to set up their North American offices in BC and to
locate their “mind and management” in the province. There
is a growing diversity of head office “types” (from global
product mandates to centres of excellence) that together
form a vibrant business ecosystem. Equally important, HQ
Vancouver and its partners are working on strategies to
retain and grow the head offices of firms that have already
arrived from elsewhere or that were founded here.
Maximizing our opportunity
Vancouver is poised to make the leap from a 20th-century
gateway city to a 21st-century head office city. The
ingredients for this transition – including talent, location,
and competitiveness – are already in place, but it will
require a fresh mindset, together with concerted effort
and sustained investment on the part of all stakeholders,
to turn aspiration into reality.
Vancouver can be a model 21st-century head office city:
a diverse, thriving ecosystem founded on leveraging our
multiple identities, our natural and built attributes, our
talent, and our ability to collaborate and generate new
ideas. HQ Vancouver, along with other organizations in
the business community, is working hard to leverage
our advantage to foster the transition from “gateway
city” to “head office city”. Collaborating with partners in
professional services firms, government funding partners
and networks overseas, HQ Vancouver is working to attract
Yuen Pau Woo is President of HQ Vancouver,
a public-private partnership supported by the
governments of Canada and British Columbia, and by
the Business Council of British Columbia.
SUMMER 2016
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