The Idea Economy Arrives

Image by: Vancouver Convention Centre

Most reporting and commentary, including this blog, concentrates on problems, complaints, arguments, and just plain bitching. But I’m going against the grain for a change and concentrating on some of the good.

In particularly, I want to highlight how the Vancouver region appears to be reinventing itself to become a 21st Century knowledge and idea economy.

More than a decade ago, I guided around a writer from the largest business magazine in France for an article on how Vancouver was the city of the future. It was nascent at the time but she could see the potential in the region’s unique combination of Pacific Rim energy and North American know-how.

And since then just about every pundit out there has insisted that knowledge, ideas and creativity will power economies in this century. So it’s nice to see examples that show we’re well on our way to this future.

The recent choice by the animation giant Pixar to open a studio in Vancouver is one. It will, with Microsoft, Electronic arts, and dozens of smaller games and animation operations, provide a solid footing for an idea economy when the recovery comes.

Another entertainment industry that’s coming back is film, although that might take dips depending on the value of the Canadian dollar. And New Media is definitely on the rise as last week’s well-attended New Media conference and awards showed. Technology is shifting from manufacturing to enabling the continuing communications and green revolutions.

And of course, we can’t forget the biggest entertainments spectacle in the world, the Olympics, which is coming to Vancouver/Whistler next winter. Not only does this provide massive exposure as a liveable city imbued with creative, dynamic people and businesses, it also brings with it infrastructure building that provides venues for other entertainment and sports-related events in future.

Lastly, at a more prosaic level, the provincial government’s campaign to upgrade our transportation infrastructure –with a strong green tint – is positioning traditional industries such as shipping for renewed strength.

Of course there is much sniping, complaining, and second-guessing about all this. There always is when a wave of change hits any organized society. And there should be. In an idea economy every idea has to be evaluated thoroughly for impact and use.

But at least we’re getting there.

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  • 2010 vancouver games, 
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  • Media, Arts and Entertainment, 
  • Innovation, 
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