Canadian Urban Institute

The Canadian Urban Institute hosted an event on November 30 titled "Competitive Cities 10-years later". The event desctiption and a brief profile of Clare is provided below. See TVO's interview with Clare O'Neill regarding Competitive Cities:

About the CUI Event on November 30, 2009

In these tough economic times, competing for investment, talent and brainpower is a challenge faced by cities around the world. In the UK, former Prime Minister Tony Blair designated Manchester as one of two pilot projects to formally identify Manchester as a city region as a way to focus the area’s mission and channel investment and resources.

Here in Ontario, the idea of organizing to compete in the knowledge economy led to the formation of the Toronto Region Research Alliance (TRRA), a public-private partnership that includes the region’s universities, colleges, and research hospitals, private sector companies like IBM and the TD Bank, as well as the federal and provincial governments and representatives of civil society. TRRA's goal is to attract research-intensive industry to the region, focused on four technology-rich sectors, and build research capacity. How is the partnership working?

In 1999, the Canadian Urban Institute held a conference to find out what makes a city region competitive. Ten years later, we are re-visiting the topic to find out what has been achieved in the past decade, identify what still needs to be done, and how the notion of a “competitive city region” fares in the current climate. Are companies as connected as they need to be to the brain power available in our universities and colleges? Is the GTA reaching its potential as a competitive force in the global economy? Can the innovation agenda be usefully expanded to the broader marketplace to better utilize community college resources? How could the GTA benefit from the approach taken in the UK?

KEYNOTE: Dr Clare O’Neill, deputy CEO of Manchester – Knowledge Capital, will describe how the city region designation is helping Manchester foster a collaborative environment for its universities and knowledge industries. She will explain how a city region with four universities that each have different areas of focus and expertise is able to foster inward investment in a region undergoing massive regeneration.