Economic Development and Employment Sectors Study
As Vaughan-based businesses compete in the national and global marketplace for new business and product mandates, it is the City’s role to support, facilitate and shape a competitive, resilient, business-friendly and growth-focused environment through its policies and actions. The Economic Development and Employment Sectors Study (EDESS) is the City’s forward-looking economic development roadmap to accelerate local economic growth and job creation over the next five years (2019–2023). It will be used to inform the preparation of the City’s new Official Plan and the Growth Management Strategy.
Key Objectives
The key objectives of this project are to:
- Assess current and future trends in the micro and macro-economic contexts
- Provide insight into business and industry needs for employment land, urban form and tenure
- Develop and articulate Vaughan’s key differentiators and unique sales proposition
Develop a series of strategic five-year economic development action plans along the following themes: Entrepreneurship, Innovation and the Technology Ecosystem; Arts, Culture and Creative Economy; International Business Development; Vaughan Metropolitan Centre; and Digital Disruption on Local Commerce
Consulting Team
The City of Vaughan had retained MDB Insight, a leading Economic Development specialist firm supported by Watson and Associates and Cushman and Wakefield.
Process
The EDESS commenced in October 2018 and was completed in Q3 2019.
Key milestones included:
- Interim Report – Part 1: Q4 2018
- Theme-Specific Workshops and Stakeholder Consultations: Q1 2019
- Part 2 Report: Q2 2019
- Final Report and Presentation: Q3 2019
Status
The study has been completed.