The team at the Asia-Pacific Centre (APC) is encouraged by last year’s successes and excited for the next twelve months.
Since its founding in 2014, the APC’s work has been a healthy mix of facilitating Asia-Pacific focused B2B, foreign investor liaising, business dialogue and FDI attraction. The busy Year of the Monkey has added to this with an eye to expanding the Asia-Pacific market intelligence of the key sectors in which we operate.
We also had a frank look at our counterparts in other Canadian cities: on a CCCA – (Consider Canada Cities Alliance) trade mission, we noted that Quebec’s focus in optics and photonics, life sciences and clean tech had sparked some interest and attracted attention in some of the targeted cities. We followed up at home with the rest of the VEC team regarding Vancouver companies who also occupy those spaces so we could remain competitive with our peers on future missions.
Here are a few highlights we were particularly proud of from the Year of the Monkey and a thing or two that we are looking forward to in the Year of the Rooster.
CCCA Spring trip to Taiwan and Korea
We participated in the Consider Canada City Alliance’s trade missions to Taiwan and Korea. One of the highlights in Taipei was the Canadian Assistive Robotic Summit, and in Seoul we particularly enjoyed the Gyeonggi Center for Creative Economy & Innovation, the Digital Media City (DMC) and Seoul City Hall.
From the sampling of B2B and networking events, we found the market appeared particularly interested in innovations in the Life Sciences and Biotech sector. Good news for some of our companies—isn’t that right, Aspect Biosystems?
China Roadshow & CCCA Japan Trip
In October, some of our team members participated in a roadshow headed by the Industrial & Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), visiting eight Chinese cities in 25 days! With the launch of our new Film & Media Centre top-of-mind, we paid special attention to production studios and games development companies, and participated in a well-attended film industry seminar. The roadshow itself was well-attended by high-profile investors representing diverse portfolios, so we felt the time (while hectic!) was high-value, and came home with many new leads to follow up on.
As the China Roadshow drew to a close, we joined up again with members of the CCCA on a Japan mission where we visited four cities: Osaka, Tokyo, Fukuoka and Yokohama. In the last city, we laid the groundwork for a sister-city Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).
The 4th Annual Canada-China Business Forum
This is the APC’s flagship event, and perhaps the most exciting thing for us was the launch of two companies whose expansion into Vancouver we were honoured to play a part in:
Two companies – VFX studio Darkhorse10 Pictures and social-foodie tech company FanDine Technologies – announced their launches at the Vancouver Economic Commission’s (VEC) 4th Annual Canada–China Business Forum. They were warmly welcomed by the City of Vancouver, the Consul General of the People’s Republic of China, the VEC, a delegation of Chaoyang District officials and prominent representatives of Vancouver’s investor community and Digital Entertainment & Interactive (DE&I) industries, all of whom had gathered at the forum to strengthen business ties to the Chaoyang District of Beijing.
These are only the biggest highlights of a very productive 2016
The Year of the Rooster will build upon the existing relationships we established with the 20 cities we visited last year.
The relationships we continue to build are the foundation for Vancouver businesses to explore new opportunities; to take advantage of Japan and China’s large market and abundant capital to scale, expand and export Vancouver’s innovative, creative and sustainable business.
Keep an eye and ear out for the APC’s activities, including the 5th Canada-China Business Forum, to be held in Beijing’s Chaoyang District. We are also planning an upcoming trade mission to India; it would be the VEC’s first official one in the region and we hope to seek out talent and investors for ICT and clean tech.
We look forward to sharing our progress soon. In the meantime, the VEC wishes you a healthy and prosperous Year of the Rooster!
Read more about APC’s work in 2016:
- New companies and renewed agreements launched, signed against backdrop of 4th Annual Canada-China Business Forum
- Newly-launched Vancouver company Darkhorse10 Pictures Inc. looks to capture Chinese markets, spur VFX consumer revolution
- Debunking the myth that Trade Missions add little Economic Value