Guest Post: Burlington Ranked Internationally by American Cities of the Future for Foreign Direct Investment Strategy
Please see the below media release from the Burlington Economic Development Corporation (BEDC).Burlington, ON — July 2, 2019 — Burlington has received an American Cities of the Future 2019/20 Award for top Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Strategy. Placing 23rd on the list of cities, Burlington is one of only a handful of small- and medium-sized cities to make this distinction. More than 200 cities were considered, and Burlington is one of only four cities with a population less than 1 million. Other winning cities include: New York City, Chicago, Greater Montreal, and nearby Mississauga. Cities were assessed based on four key categories: Economic Potential; Business Friendliness; Human Capital and Lifestyle; and Cost Effectiveness and Connectivity. Business that choose to locate in Burlington leverage the highly educated talent pool of more than 2 million within a 45-minute commute, regional and international transit hubs and excellent quality of life.
"BEDC works very hard to attract new companies to our community and this international distinction recognizes what we have been doing for years. Being one of the smallest cities on this list demonstrates our competitive advantage over other regional locations and the reason businesses choose Burlington." — Anita Cassidy, Acting Executive Director of the Burlington Economic Development Corporation (BEDC)
In 2019, BEDC partnered with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) and Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) to provide immigration support to Burlington companies with highly-qualified talent from around the world. Learn more about the partnership by clicking the link above. The BEDC team continues to partner with Toronto Global and Halton Region to attract and support businesses to invest in Burlington. In 2017, BEDC helped Finnish Robotics company, Orfer, locate in Burlington from Finland via the soft-landing program at TechPlace, Burlington’s Innovation Centre that is led and supported by BEDC.TechPlace provided Orfer with office space, connections to partners, and hiring support during the first several months while they began the process of opening their first North American headquarters. For more information about doing business in Burlington, contact Andrew Elliston at Andrew.Elliston@burlington.ca or 905-332-9415, ext 7248. To learn more about the winners of the American Cities of the Future 2019/20 Award for top Foreign Direct Investment Strategy and the methodology, click the link. MY TAKE:This is absolutely great news for Burlington. Being recognized this way just further reinforces our city's commitment to being open for business both locally and globally — that goes hand-in-hand with the mission of our Red Tape Red Carpet Task Force to better understand the challenges (the red tape) to locating or expanding a business here, and to ideate around solutions that will better serve our local businesses (the red carpet).