Economic Development Work Plan Targets Growth, Prosperity (News)
Fredericton (February 16, 2010) - Cultivating economic growth and prosperity for Fredericton is the goal of an ambitious economic development work plan presented today to the City’s Development Committee of Council.
“Economic development is not just about job creation, it is about building solid platforms and infrastructure to create community economic growth like our Knowledge Park, the new Convention Center, and our Fred-eZone,” said Councillor Dan Keenan, Development Committee Chair. “I’m pleased to see the cooperative approach we are taking with our partners to keep the momentum going.”
The City’s economic development work plan is designed to compliment the efforts of Enterprise Fredericton (the local Community Economic Development Agency), and in turn the Province’s Self Sufficiency agenda. “We compliment their efforts by way of economic development related marketing and promotions, programs, events and sector-specific projects and initiatives. We rely upon Enterprise Fredericton and refer many clients in terms of business support related requests from business counseling to start-ups”, explained Laurie Guthrie Hayes, Economic Development Officer with the City’s Development Services Department. She went on to say that, “Our collective goal is to cultivate economic growth and prosperity for Fredericton. Our successes are not the result of one organization, we work in concert with all the agencies like Enterprise Fredericton, the Fredericton Chamber of Commerce, Downtown Fredericton, Business Fredericton North, and the Fredericton International Airport to advance our community.”
The specific elements of the plan were summarized as follows:
The City develops and maintains marketing and promotional tools like its business card cd/promotional video, economic development website, which includes a digital relocation kit as well as links to resources for immigrants and a soon-to-be-released Business Support web page. These tools are used by the business agencies and ambassadors, who are promoting Fredericton during their meetings and travels.
The economic development advertising plan targets local, regional, national and international audiences. Its primary objectives are: to recruit and retain residents (complimenting population growth and workforce development initiatives); market and promote the RUNWAY Business Park Network to attract more investment opportunities within this major business corridor; enlist more citizens in the Business Ambassador Program to help attract opportunities to Fredericton; and to position Fredericton as a world leader in terms of smart and sustainability.
A major element of the work plan is the Fredericton Business Ambassador Program. With limited resources, the City had to be more creative in terms of potentially attracting investment. In 2003, the Fredericton Business Ambassador concept was introduced through the recognition of 30 honorary ambassadors. In 2005, a comprehensive Ambassador training program was launched, and the Ambassador Team has since grown to 270 people. There is no cost to participate, and the concept is as simple as promoting Fredericton during meetings and travels. The main goal is to help attract new businesses, residents, conferences, and opportunities to the City by sharing knowledge and distributing the City’s promotional tools.
Due to the varied nature of economic development, sector-specific initiatives arise on occasion. One major ongoing initiative, which is benefiting many sectors, is the RUNWAY Business Park Network. The RUNWAY is a key piece of economic development infrastructure to help advance the City’s major growth corridor and its strategic industry clusters. Comprised of hundreds of businesses in key sectors like: information and green technologies, education/advanced learning, R&D, engineering, retail, light manufacturing, aerospace & defence – the City is well poised for future development. The Development Committee of Council will be hearing more about the RUNWAY at its April meeting.
Fredericton will continue to work with its partners to advance the community, build upon its long-standing reputation as a “smart city”, and promote its sustainability initiatives, cost competitive business environment, and balanced lifestyle!
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Media Contact : Laurie Guthrie Hayes, Economic Development Officer, Development Services, City of Fredericton (506) 460-2942.