The Calgary Connection
We’re in the business of welcoming the world to Calgary. It’s more than a matter of tourism and civic pride. It’s also a powerful and effective way to showcase the city’s intellectual capital and to introduce visitors to the benefits of working, living and investing in our city.
Every major city and region around the world has its own distinct intellectual capital—a unique combination of its residents’ expertise and experience that shapes the local economy and personality.
With the knowledge economy on our doorstep, business and public sectors here and around the world are seeking specialized knowledge, information and high skill levels.
Recognizing this, we’re working to see that the people who come to Calgary for meetings and conventions leave with connections.
“Connections formed at the Calgary TELUS Convention Centre (CTCC) are immediate and often outlast the events themselves––by years,” says Marcia Lyons, general manager.
For example, she says, in 2000 the World Petroleum Congress connected an entire Canadian industry to its counterparts around the world, making it part of a global community.
Calgary’s people (the bedrock of intellectual capital) have a number of highly desirable characteristics: they’re young, well educated and driven.
“Calgary has a 100-year history of being entrepreneurial—of having a can-do spirit,” says Peter Garrett, the president of Innovate Calgary. “The words ‘can’t be done’ don’t exist in Calgary. As a result, when researchers, entrepreneurs and investors approach new market opportunities, they come at it with a spirit of success.”
That spirit is exactly what many of today’s international companies, organizations and businesses are looking for.
“People represent opportunities,” says Jim Gray, chair of the Energy Group of Brookfield Asset Management Inc. “People don’t come here and look at an oilfield. . . .They look for relationships. They look for people.”
By linking Calgarians and visitors through congresses, conventions, meetings and events, Lyons says the CTCC “will leverage economic activities that go beyond the tourism and hospitality sector”.