On November 16th and 17th, the Cascadia Innovation Corridor community gathered together at the Sheraton Vancouver Wall Centre to celebrate the strengths and innovative spirit of our megaregion and highlight opportunities to build a sustainable corridor for the future. The conference was our first opportunity to gather in-person since 2019 and strengthen our cross-border relationships.
We were joined by the following speakers from both sides of the border either virtually and in-person:
- Jennifer Granholm, United States Secretary of Energy
- Premier John Horgan, Province of British Columbia
- Governor Jay Inslee, State of Washington
- Governor Kate Brown, State of Oregon
- The Honourable Ravi Kahlon, Minister of Jobs, Economic Recovery and Innovation, Province of British Columbia
- Brad Smith, President, Microsoft
- Dr. Bonnie Henry, Provincial Health Officer, Province of British Columbia
- Kim Baird, Indigenous Leader and Former Chief, Tsawwassen First Nation
- Aria Hahn, Ph.D., CEO, Koonkie
- Steve Mantle, Founder and CEO, innov8.ag
- Simon Dixon, Partner and Global Transportation Lead, Deloitte
- Marko Gasic, Vice President, Planning and Improvement, Mosaic Forest Management
- Ryan Peterson, Vice President, Accelerate Solutions, Unity Technologies
- Brian Cladoosby, Swinomish Indian Tribal Community
- Ali Meyers, Director, Human Resources, Boeing Commercial Airplanes
- Paula Hammond, Market Leader, Multimodal, WSP
- Bill Tam, Co-Founder and COO, Canada’s Digital Technology Supercluster
- Tom Davidoff, Ph.D., Director, UBC Centre for Urban Economics and Real Estate
- Amy Snover, Ph.D., Director, Climate Impacts Group, Northwest Climate Adaptation Science Center
- Chris Sands, Ph.D., Director, Canada Institute, Wilson Centre
These speakers canvassed broad sustainability opportunities in the Cascadia Innovation Corridor including the sustainability of our cross-border relationships and how we can keep our border open in the future, the sustainability of available talent and the sustainability of our community health. We also examined how we sustainably build out the Cascadia region as we anticipate 3-4 million more people moving to the region by 2050. And following the COP26 conference, we looked at the innovations and work taking place in this region that are making a difference in the global fight against climate change.
The CIC conference has followed and exceeded the required COVID-19 safety protocols as set out by the Provincial Health Officer, including requiring all attendees to show proof of full vaccination, requiring the use of masks (unless eating or drinking), and providing hand sanitizer throughout the venue.
