Region must ‘hunt as a pack,’ says Edmonton Global boss
The Edmonton Global regional economic development organization is moving toward full operation with Malcolm Bruce’s recent appointment as chief executive.
Bruce, chief executive of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region Board as well as Edmonton Global’s interim head, becomes full-time leader July 1 for the development group, formed last June by Edmonton and 14 surrounding municipalities.
Here’s an edited, condensed look at what he sees in store for the organization:
Q What is Edmonton Global’s most immediate challenge?
A We’re going to come in and hopefully … grow our economic prosperity. The first thing we have to do is figure out what our competitive advantage is — what do we do really well here?
We graduate 20,000 postsecondary students every year. This is a tremendous competitive advantage.
We’re in the process of doing a strategy we think will be done by the end of June … We have narrowed it to 12 sectors where we have an advantage. Energy, health care, agriculture, technology, machine learning and artificial intelligence are among the candidates.
Q Why create a regional development group?
A Individually, we’re not as great as the sum of our parts. When we hunt as a pack on the world stage, we offer a far more compelling package to investors. We think we can get more bang from our buck. We’re trying to align (our work) and have greater collaboration.
It’s about lead-generation for investment and trade. Ultimately, a company will make final investment decisions based on the attributes of an individual community.
Q What resources will you have?
A Our budget this year is $3 million and next year $5 million. Eventually, we’ll likely have 10 to 20 staff. On the first of July, we’re open for business, but it will still be another six months or eight months until we’re fully in business.
I won’t be at full budget until next year, so I only have so much capacity to do things now.
Q Don’t people mix up your name with the television station?
A You’re looking at it from a local perspective. From an international perspective, nobody else out there is confusing Edmonton Global with Global Edmonton.