Western Economic Diversification in British Columbia — Making a Difference

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Port of Prince Rupert Cruise Ship Terminal

$1.56 million
Community Economic Development

With the 2003 WD funding announcement for the Port of Prince Rupert, there emerged a significant opportunity to develop cruise passenger traffic on the North Coast and realize considerable economic benefits for British Columbia.

WD provided $1.56 million to create the Northland Cruise Ship Terminal. It is projected that within 10 years, Prince Rupert has the potential to attract 140 vessels and more than 250,000 passengers annually. The development of the cruise terminal dock facility has established Prince Rupert as a port of call for international cruise lines en route to Alaska, and will continue to develop the tourism sector in the Pacific Northwest region.

• The new terminal has seen steady success since it began operations:
• increase from 60,000 passengers in 2004 to 100,000 passengers in 2007,
• 60 large cruise ship calls in 2007 alone, and
• $2.4 million in passenger tour revenues and an estimated $10 million in economic benefits for Prince Rupert in 2008.

Kelowna International Airport

$1.3 million
Community Economic Development

A $1.35 million WD funding investment, under the Mountain Pine Beetle Program’s Airport Improvements Initiative, enabled Kelowna International Airport to extend the main runway by 1,200 feet and the south end by 400 feet. The extended runway officially bridges the airport’s transition from continental airport to one capable of accommodating long-haul and international flights. The project also included installation of blast fences at both ends of the runway and minor upgrades to airside aprons to accommodate larger passenger aircraft.  Kelowna International Airport celebrated the grand opening of its new runway expansion on November 7, 2008.

Benefits of the expanded runway include:

• the ability to meet expected growth in passenger numbers from a record 1.22 million passengers in 2006 to a forecast 1.6 million passengers by 2015,
• bringing economic benefits to mountain pine beetle impacted communities throughout the region, including introduction of new international tourism markets, and
• attracting larger Canadian carriers with a safer runway featuring additional room for take off and landing, and,
• strengthening Kelowna International Airport’s position as Canada’s 11th busiest airport.

Emily Carr University Expansion

$197,500
Entrepreneurship and Innovation

Since 2006, WD has invested $197,500 towards the creation and expansion of the Emily Carr University of Art and Design’s Industry Liaison Office (ILO).

The original investment of $97,500 enabled the University to create the office and help strengthen the University’s technology transfer capacity in the areas of media arts, visual arts and design. The facility:

• facilitates applied research and technology commercialization activities in partnership with industry, government and not-for-profit organizations;
• encourages research transparency to increase industry collaboration;
• develops internship and co-op placements for students and graduates.

In 2008, WD made a second investment of $100,000 towards the expansion of the ILO. With this funding, the ILO will strengthen existing partnerships, and create new partnerships and collaborative projects through an University/Industry partnership program and "Entrepreneur-in-Residence" program. The project will also encourage mentoring by providing opportunities for faculty, staff and students to engage in entrepreneurial activities.

Since 2006, the University’s Industry Liaison Office has developed 13 prototypes through applied research, identified 26 processes or products for further research and development, and placed 12 internships and 35 co-op students.

Centre for Drug Research and Development (at UBC)

$700,000
Entrepreneurship & Innovation

Thanks to $400,000 of funding support through the Western Diversification Program, The Centre for Drug Research and Development at the University of British Columbia was able to initiate start-up operations in 2006.  A subsequent investment of $300,000 established new laboratories and purchased the equipment necessary to advance promising early-stage medical discoveries towards commercialization.  Technology is used for target validation, screening, design and synthesis, drug delivery and drug evaluation.  As a result of this investment, the Centre for Drug Research and Development:

• trains highly qualified personnel in specialized fields;
• created a virtual network to support 250 researchers across the province; and
• bridges the gap between research and the successful development and commercialization of new medicines.