A year ago, members of the Global Competitiveness Council – the voice of the global business community in San Diego – made a request to Mayor Faulconer: to travel internationally with World Trade Center San Diego.
And he said yes. So we decided to start our global engagement by expanding our North American relationships and traveling to Vancouver–an international city that is quicker to fly to than it is to drive to LA. And with so many similarities to San Diego, we wound up squeezing nine meetings and events into just under a day and a half.
Economically speaking, Vancouver is seen as one of the greenest cities in the world. With the Mayor’s climate action plan and the ongoing development of our cleantech industry, San Diego is fast being recognized as another one of North America’s greenest cities.
#SDinVancouver 1st stop. Announcing @TransLink issued 2M cards using SD-based @CubicTS tech. Int’l success for SD biz means jobs back home pic.twitter.com/rJgkwj5isK
— Kevin Faulconer (@Kevin_Faulconer) June 26, 2017
Some of the highlights from the trip include:
- San Diego-based Cubic Transportation Systems, in partnership with TransLink, Metro Vancouver’s transportation network, announced there were more than 2 million compass cards in circulation
- Phoenix Molecular Design, a life sciences company based in Vancouver, is actively expanding its business to San Diego and plans to grow to 15 employees within two years
- UC San Diego and University of British Columbia (UBC) formulized the HIBAR initiative, designed to connect their faculty to their communities to tackle problems around sustainability and climate change
- San Diego State University became the only California university accepted into the International Sustainability Campus Network, joining UBC and other top tier universities around the globe
- SDG&E and BC Hydro, British Columbia’s energy utility, participated in a clean energy forum
- Planck Aerospace, a San Diego-based drone startup, was able to pitch its technology to the Port of Vancouver
- A smart cities forum led by Qualcomm and Wavefront, the Canadian center for mobile and IoT technology, and other telecommunications/Iot companies
Out on the water in Vancouver. #SDinVancouver #SanVan pic.twitter.com/cfKdq4C3A1
— Planck Aerosystems (@planckaero) June 27, 2017
And we made it back to San Diego just in time to celebrate Canada’s 150 birthday.
World, get ready. San Diego is coming for you.
Learn more about the trade mission by checking out #SDinVancouver