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An influx of people, money and ideas has seen the Thompson Okanagan economy grow and mature in unexpected ways.
When the University of British Columbia opened its Okanagan campus on the northern outskirts of Kelowna in 2005, there were 3,000 students. Today, the student body is four times as large. In addition to new space, the institution felt the need for greater engagement with community partners in health, technology, business and arts and culture.
That was the impetus behind UBCO Downtown, a 43-storey, 415,000-square-foot building currently rising in downtown Kelowna that will have classroom space for approximately 1,000 students as well as 473 housing units. In addition, it will have spaces where academe and the general public can meet and mingle, including a public engagement suite, art gallery, maker space and wine tasting lab.
It’s all a far cry from the Thompson Okanagan region’s roots in cattle ranching, fruit growing, forestry and mining. Those primary industries are still here, but today there’s so much more: robotics, aerospace, winemaking, finance. Just under 20,000 people work in advanced manufacturing in the region and more than 3,000 in information and communication technology. Like Vancouver Island, the southern Interior has seen an influx of remote workers from major Canadian cities seeking a more affordable cost of living in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. And they’ve brought with them yet more in-demand skills, ideas, capital and consumer tastes.
Okanagan College is beginning construction this summer on a Centre for Food, Wine and Tourism at its Kelowna campus at a cost of $56 million. The facility, slated to open in 2026, will expand education in the culinary arts, local food and beverage production and world-class hospitality services, aiming to help meet a skills shortage in these areas.
The region owes its growing economic diversification in large part to improved transportation links with surrounding regions and the world outside, combined with its own quality of life. One of the fastest-growing airports in Canada, the Kelowna International Airport is committed to $422 million in upgrades between 2024 and 2033, including a terminal expansion, new industrial and commercial space, 245-room Sutton Place Hotel and new parking garage as well as safety and sustainability improvements.
Not all new developments in the Thompson Okanagan are big and flashy, however. Some simply fill in gaps in the local economy that have lingered too long. Sweláps Market, a supermarket focused on fresh, local food, opened in the autumn of 2023 on the T’kemlúps te Secwépemc reserve in the heart of Kamloops. The store serves to improve food security on the reserve while providing jobs for members. In addition to winning the Community Project of the Year Award for communities with less than 20,000 population, Sweláps Market took home the People’s Choice Award at this year’s BCEDA convention.
In Merritt, Troika Management and partner Spayum Holdings, owned by the Lower Nicola Indian Band, have applied for a permit to build Gateway 286, a seven-acre commercial property designed to bring improved amenities including restaurants and electric vehicle charging to travellers on the Coquihalla Highway.
Agriculture is a major focus of the technology scene in the Thompson Okanagan. Last year 4AG Robotics received $17.5 million in venture capital funding to accelerate its development and deployment of robotic systems for mushroom harvesting. With the help of the funding, the Salmon Arm company aims to nearly double its team to around 70 positions.
Since 2016, Restoration Lands has attracted a mushroom farm, vegan food factory and natural beauty product manufacturer to the site of an old glass plant in Coldstream it calls the Okanagan Industrial Eco Park. Next it plans to install B.C.’s largest solar energy array on the sprawling building’s seven-acre roof. At completion, it’s expected to produce four megawatts of power, enough to offset a substantial portion of the power consumed on site.
When the Vernon Chamber of Commerce surveyed its members last year, it found the number one issue facing local businesses was attracting and retaining skilled labour. So it set to work creating a website-and-video campaign called Work and Invest Vernon that went viral, reaching more than 400,000 residents of Vancouver and Calgary. The campaign’s videos, which showcase the quality of life to be had in the North Okanagan in an endearingly offbeat way, have been viewed more than 15,000 times on YouTube. Funded mainly by local employers, the campaign won the Economic Development Marketing Award (community more than 20,000 population) from the BCEDA this year.
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