Uploaded on 2014-11-19 by k_negm

Situated on Canada's West Coast, Vancouver boasts mild temperatures year round. Summer days, averaging 22°C, are long, warm and sunny. The winter checks in at 6°C and rarely sees the temperature drop below zero. Snowfall is usually confined to the local mountains where you can enjoy a number of winter sports. Vancouver is one of only a few places around the world where you can ski, hike and hit the beach - all on the same day. This dynamic and multicultural city is consistently ranked as one of the most livable cities on the planet. In 2007, Vancouver was named the "Most Liveable City" in the world by the Economist Intelligence Unit. Metro Vancouver is also home to four leading Canadian post-secondary institutions: The University of British Columbia (UBC), Simon Fraser University (SFU), Emily Carr University of Art + Design (ECUAD) and the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT). UBC is a global centre for research and teaching, consistently ranked among the 40 best universities in the world. SFU is Canada's leading comprehensive university with vibrant campuses in BC's largest municipalities - Vancouver, Burnaby and Surrey. ECUAD is BC's only University dedicated solely to art, design and media education and research. BCIT offers practical career credentials designed for the workplace, including degrees, diplomas and certificates. *This brings us to the city’s first stock - World-class teaching and research facilities.* The presence of this stock in a casual, multicultural city with mild weather, makes Vancouver extremely attractive to young people from all over the world. There’s roughly 40,000 foreign students temporarily residing in Vancouver who are engaged in a program of study that is at least six months in duration. *This brings us to the city’s first flow - An abundance of young people moving through the city, bringing their expertise, culture, and funds (predominantly tuition and living expenses).* It’s clear why this stock and flow duo function well together. They are interconnected and feed off each other. Over time, this dynamic has resulted in another unique phenomenon. Vancouver churns out armies of smart, ambitious tech workers every year. Consequently, the biggest companies in digital media and entertainment technology have taken notice and are moving into the city. Instead of talent flocking to where the companies are, companies are flocking to where the talent is. In BC alone, there are over 600 digital media and entertainment technology companies (60% in Metro Vancouver). Together, they employ more than 16,000 people and generate 2.3 billion dollars in annual revenue. Dubbed ‘Hollywood North’ and ‘Silicon Valley North’, Vancouver is now home to numerous industry leaders and innovators in digital film, television, video games and interactive advertising. It has one of the top video game clusters in the world, and companies such as EA, Nintendo, Sega and Microsoft all have studios in Vancouver. Additionally, VFX companies like Sony Pictures Imageworks, and social media giants like Facebook and Hootsuite, have also set up shop in Vancouver. *This brings us to the city’s second stock - A powerful and young tech sector.* Together, these two stocks and one flow are projected to invigorate BC’s economy and firmly establish Vancouver’s position on the world map of innovation. In a bid to make BC a leader in the digital media industry, the Provincial Government granted 40.5 million dollars to the Great Northern Way Campus Trust (GNWC) which is a partnership between UBC, SFU, ECUAD, and BCIT. The four institutions partnered up to offer the Master of Digital Media graduate degree program. Housed at the Centre for Digital Media at the Great Northern Way Campus, the program is jointly accredited by all four institutions. The campus is designed to bring together businesses, academia and the general community into an emerging district for the digital and creative sectors. Additionally, ECUAD has just started building a large new facility at the Great Northern Way Campus because they’ve exceeded capacity at their current facilities on Granville Island. This is largely due to increased international student enrolment. This is true for the other three institutions as well. Canada still remains one of the safest and most embracing countries of foreigners in the world, and so the number of international students is projected to keep rising. In conclusion, this trichotomy of world-class institutions + young flocking students + growing tech sector seems to be a great recipe for growth, both for Vancouver as a city, and BC as a province. ![Metro Vancouver - Google Earth][1] [1]: https://edxuploads.s3.amazonaws.com/14163569917410723.jpg