Oh Canada! New Report Highlights Strong Economic, Innovation Ties with Bay Area
Strong and growing economic connections between the Bay Area/Silicon Valley and Canada are helping fuel a vibrant cross-border exchange of talent, technology and capital as California’s second largest trading partner works to dramatically expand its innovation economy, according to a Bay Area Council Economic Institute report released this week (April 17). The report finds that recent depictions of an unfair trade relationship are overblown, confined to narrow industry sectors and not reflective of a generally balanced exchange of goods and services.
In the Bay Area, Canada has long been a source of top executive leadership and entrepreneurial talent. Bay Area-based innovation companies like Uber, Instacart and Slack were all founded by Canadian immigrants, according to the report. In the U.S. overall, Canadians have founded more billion-dollar companies (9) than immigrants from any other country. Six of those companies are in the Bay Area.
At a meeting to announce the report, Consul General of Canada in San Francisco Rana Sarkar helped lead a discussion on its findings. Joining Consul General Sarkar was Randolph, Laura Buhler, Executive Director of the Canadian business leadership organization C100, Dr. Trevin Stratton, Chief Economist of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Ottawa and Alexander Levy, Silicon Valley Bank’s Chief Scientist of ML and AI. The Institute extends its deepest thanks to report sponsors Global Affairs Canada, Air Canada, and Silicon Valley Bank.
VIDEO: Watch the discussion of new report on Canada-Bay Area economic ties>>
