industries

Where does Vancouver rank as a startup city?

By Felicity Stone /

The top 20 startup ecosystems according to Compass Startup Ecosystem Report 2015

THE#BCBIZDAILY
Plus, a boost for the B.C. wine industry and a retiring Vancouver planner

Reach for the top
Vancouver is one of the top 20 “startup ecosystems” in the world, according to a study by Compass, a data benchmarking company based in San Francisco. At No. 18, Vancouver is near the bottom of the pack, behind Toronto (17) and ahead of Montreal (20), the only other Canadian cities on the list. At the top is (surprise!) Silicon Valley, followed by New York, L.A., Boston and Tel Aviv. Compass collaborated with Deloitte, Crunchbase, Orb Intelligence, Global Entrepreneurship Week, Dealroom and 60 local partners. You can get a copy of the study here. (via the Next Web News)

Drink up
A partnership between UBC and B.C.’s wine industry will benefit from some of the federal government’s pre-election largesse. Western Economic Diversification Canada is forking over $630,000 to help strengthen cooperation in the industry, enhance export readiness and develop global identity, according to a release. UBC and the wine industry will match the funding for a total of $1.3 million to support the:

• establishment of task forces on wine labelling and presentation, and on the industry’s identity
• use of research and industry knowledge to identify and assess options for organization, modelled from other advanced wine regions in the world
• Analysis of intelligence from international trade shows
• development of online tools to strengthen collaboration and industry stakeholder relations
• hosting of forums, workshops and town halls


Exit plans
After 35 years of planning experience, and three years as the city’s general manager of planning and development, Vancouver’s chief city planner is calling it a day. Brian Jackson, appointed after the city fired its previous head planner, Brent Toderian, oversaw the development and implementation of key community plans for the West End, Downtown Eastside, Marpole and Cambie Corridor plus “the most significant growth in job-related commercial development in the downtown core in the history of Vancouver,” according to a release from the city. Before retiring at the end of 2015, Jackson hopes to complete key elements of his legacy Heritage Action Plan to ensure the preservation of Vancouver’s historic assets.