Industry Sectors
In Surrey, quality is as important as quantity when it comes to expanding its business landscape; so while the volume of its business portfolio is massive, industry diversity informs Surrey’s economy.
This is why today Surrey is respected as much for its high-tech sectors as its agricultural industries, and is as famous for its clean energy and advanced manufacturing as its world-class film and television production. Ten per cent of B.C.’S clean tech sector is located in Surrey, and Simon Fraser University is home to worldleading fuel cells and advanced materials. Foresight Cleantech Accelerator Centre, Powertech Labs, SFU Fuel Cell Research Lab, Econewton and other leading companies are located in Surrey.
Key among these enterprises is the advanced manufacturing sector: nearly 24,000 of Surrey’s labour force work here; and the manufacturing sector is incredibly important in providing the city’s population with well-paid jobs.
Supply chain: Surrey has 8,000 commercial and industrial businesses that play a vital role as suppliers of raw materials, goods and services in the ecosystem for local manufacturing companies.
Surrey’s focus on cultivating a clean energy industry has already proven effective: it is home to green companies such as Wellons Canada, which provides biomass-fired green thermal energy systems. Surrey is home to multinational and small businesses, including Philips Healthcare, Starfish Medical, Conquer Mobile, Biomark Diagnostics, Cabian and Target Tape.
Meanwhile, Surrey’s Innovation Boulevard is an agile partnership of health, business, higher education and government, aimed at creating new health technologies to improve peoples’ lives. It focuses on three areas: medical devices, independent living and digital health.
Surrey’s agricultural sector strengths include the Biopod Initiative, which is an advanced Biopod Research and Demonstration Greenhouse providing testing space for new agricultural technologies. One third of Surrey’s land base is within the Agricultural Land Reserve, providing significant opportunities.
Building a creative and cultural economy: A built collaboration between entrepreneurs and artists, traditional arts, digital and interactive media, film, dance, theatre and more. Skydance Media, a California-based media company responsible for recent films such as Mission Impossible, chose Surrey as another home, adding a new film and television production facility that houses five sound stages and accommodates a production staff of up to 400.
Long-range planning is a hallmark of Surrey governance, and on that score its Economic Diversification Strategy ( EDS) guides Surrey’s economy into its next phase by collaborating with businesses, universities, industry associations, governments and non-profits to identify and cultivate opportunities in strategic areas.
By focusing on health and clean technology, advanced manufacturing, agri-innovation, and creative technology, the EDS will create a prosperous and resilient economy that supports a healthy community for Surrey’s future.