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Economic Strategy |
1.2 Supporting plans
The Economic Strategy is based on three background reports developed as a starting point for this work:
- Innovation Ottawa: A Strategy for Sustaining Economic Generators, which deals with the export-oriented industry clusters that lead Ottawa's growth and wealth.
- Serving Ottawa: Economic Strategies to Develop Ottawa's Local Economy, an examination of market sector businesses that sell goods and services to residents and other Ottawa businesses.
- Rural Ottawa: Securing A Vibrant Economy, reporting on businesses
located in Ottawa's countryside and villages.
The Economic Strategy is also accompanied by two key supporting plans:
- Broadband Plan, Ottawa's strategy to extend broadband connectivity to unserviced areas and to integrate telecommunications strategy into the city's planning and development.
- Talent Plan, Ottawa's strategy to link employers to a skilled workforce and to improve workforce infrastructure.
These reports and the Economic Strategy itself are the result of extensive consultation with the business community including the Ottawa Centre for Research and Innovation (OCRI), Ottawa Life Sciences Council (OLSC), Ottawa Tourism and Convention Authority (OTCA), Greater Ottawa Chamber of Commerce (GOCC), Ottawa Federation of Agriculture, National Capital Business Alliance (NCBA), Regroupement des gens d'affaires (RGA), Ottawa Business Improvement Areas Network, Ottawa Construction Association, Capital Health Alliance, , Business Education Leadership Group, industry clusters and related City steering committees. City staff were also guided by The Ottawa Partnership (TOP), a group of private- and public-sector leaders committed to advancing Ottawa's economy.
The antecedent for the Economic Strategy is an August 2000 publication, Choosing a Future: A New Economic Vision for Ottawa. Prepared for TOP, this report examined the city's economic wealth generators. Choosing a Future fostered such initiatives as SmartCapital, Branding Ottawa and TalentWorks. It identified the City's strongest economic drivers and underlined the importance of key economic foundations such as the availability of capital, skilled labour and adequate infrastructure.
In its prescription for "balanced economic growth, social equity and environmental sensitivity," Choosing a Future also introduced the elements of smart growth.