Welcome Action Calgary partners. You are innovative business leaders who have demonstrated a commitment to accelerate the growth of your own businesses and to ensure the future prosperity and vibrancy of Calgary.

Action Calgary engages corporate partners in projects that benefit individual businesses and the broader community. As a partner you are able to align your business vision with CED projects and have the opportunity to take action in positioning Calgary as a world hub for high profile, competitive and essential business partnerships. It is corporate engagement, participation and investment with a solid business payback.

Congratulations to our Action Calgary partners - members of an elite group of visionary businesses to build Calgary as a world class business centre.

Recognition

Action Calgary partners are recognized and provided with a host of business opportunities which recently included the following:

• Media attention through a monthly business feature of the Calgary Herald published in hardcopy and in digital form. Each edition features four or five of our corporate partners - See previous editions
• Invitations to exclusive business networking events
• Invitations to participate in exclusive trade missions
• Speaking engagements at key industry events
• Leadership roles in Advisory Committees and Project Task Forces
• Profiles on CEDýs website and e-newsletters
• B2B opportunities
• Profile at Calgary Economic Developmentýs business community events

Initiatives Updates

GLOBAL BUSINESS CENTRE:
The Global Business Centre is how Southern Alberta business, entrepreneurs and innovative thinkers reach out and move into the worldwide marketplace; and it is how business from anywhere in the world taps into the opportunities and advantages available in Southern Alberta. 

Global Business Centre programming features a bi-monthly Country in Focus speaker series with ýDoing Business in Mexicoý as Septemberýs featured event. This half-day seminar addressed some of the key challenges and opportunities Canadian firms face when growing their business in Mexico.  A number of speakers, with personal experience doing business in Mexico, shared their knowledge and experience in this business friendly market.

A workshop entitled ýDoing business in the new Americaý is being held on November 8 featuring three leaders in Canadian-American trade relations for a panel discussion on doing business in the new America.

Gary Slipp, Global Business Centre manager, has written an article on the importance of CRM systems for doing international business. Read the article.

More information on these and other informative and insightful events can be found on our website: www.globalbusinesscentre.com.

Partner Recognition Opportunity
Action Calgary partners are profiled through digital signage at the Global Business Centre and receive exclusive opportunities to network and participate in the programming at this exciting new business resource.

ALBERTA CREATIVE HUB:
By bringing together a common infrastructure, the Alberta Creative Hub, to be developed in Calgary, will foster the growth and innovation of creative industries such as, film, television and digital media companies across Alberta. Calgary Economic Development (CED) has undertaken the necessary steps to bring this project to fruition. We have completed the governance and business models and have incorporated a not-for-profit organization to develop and oversee the project. The Alberta Creative Hub will create a collaborative environment create and utilize local advances in technology and influence the education of new minds. Site selection and initial programming work has commenced. The Alberta Ministry of Culture and Community Spirit has allocated the initial funding commence the development process.

PRODUCTIVITY ALBERTA:
Calgary Economic Development, in collaboration with our partner the Government of Alberta, is taking a lead role to promote innovation and productivity improvement solutions to Calgary businesses, initially within the goods-producing sector but with a view to expand to other key industries.

Productivity is defined in many different ways but itýs really about how well an organization utilizes its resources in order to maximize its value. When it comes to productivity growth, Alberta lags that of other provinces, as well as the U.S. and many other industrialized nations. This affects our global competitiveness and prosperity. Reasons for the lack of productivity growth in Alberta could be related to:

• A lack of awareness of the importance of productivity improvement
• An inability of leaders to create a culture of innovation and continuous improvement within their firms
• Production processes that or not optimized or ýleaný
• Minimal investment in new equipment and technology

The focus of CEDýs Industry Productivity Initiative is on information-sharing, tools development, communications and leadership development programs to assist companies in overcoming these issues.

Recent projects have included delivery of a report stemming from a regional assessment of productivity issues currently faced by industry; benchmarking and providing workshops on the subject of cost reduction through industrial energy efficiency; and a workshop on financing options for small and medium companies to facilitate the acquisition of new equipment.

WORKshift: "Think outside the office"
WORKshift is a Calgary regional initiative to promote, educate and accelerate the adoption of telecommuting in the business community. WORKshift offers businesses in the Calgary region tools and resources to assess and effectively implement telework programs for their employees.

WORKshift also provides a web tool to track and report on the positive environmental impacts associated with telework. Participating companies are given the opportunity to test world-class onboarding, tracking and training components to make implementation of telecommuting positions fast and easy. View an online demo on our website at: www.workshiftcalgary.com.

Calgary businesses will see tangible benefits right away, and will set an example for companies across Canada that are looking to initiate impactful and modern telework programs.

Partner Recognition Opportunity
Action Calgary partners are featured on the WORKshift website, which is gaining significant momentum from the business community.

LiveinCalgary.com:
Targeted at long time Calgarians as well as people considering a move to the area, this award winning people attraction website aggregates and organizes information about topics from immigration to shopping, schools to theatre. Rich in content, the site features an interactive photo gallery called Picture Yourself which allows site users to explore attractions and locations in and around the city, as well as an interactive map which provides information and links about communities and neighborhoods.

We encourage employers to include the following link to their recruitment websites: www.liveincalgary.com. This is a tremendous resource for attracting talent from locations outside Calgary.

Financial Services Industry Attraction:
As an energy financing powerhouse, Calgary has a unique opportunity to attract and expand our base of financial service providers. Given Canadaýs strong global reputation for responsible regulation in the financial services market, CED has created a collaborative industry-focused approach to attracting additional jobs and investment in this critical market.

DOING BUSINESS IN HONG KONG AND CHINA
Calgary Economic Development, through the Global Business Centre and in partnership with the Hong Kong Canada Business Association is pleased to invite you to attend this informative reception with guest speaker Daniel Booth of Vistra, to speak on doing business in Hong Kong and China.

When: Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Time: 4:30 - 6:30 p.m.
Where: Global Business Centre - 120 8th Avenue SE

Tickets are $45 (plus applicable service charges)

Register online

DOING BUSINESS IN THE NEW AMERICA
Calgary Economic Development, through our Global Business Centre, is pleased to welcome three leaders in Canadian-American trade relations for a panel discussion on doing business in the new America. This luncheon seminar will discuss how in an ever-changing economic climate, relationships with trading partners can be key to recovery.

When: Monday, November 8, 2010
Time: 11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.
Where: Global Business Centre - 120 8th Avenue SE

Tickets are $50 (plus applicable service charges)

Register online

WHO'S ON DECK: SUCCESSION PLANNING FOR CONTINUED SUCCESS
Calgary Economic Development invites you to a half-day best practices forum focusing on succession planning - the deliberate practice of identifying and grooming individuals for key roles within the company. The session features a keynote address by Dr. S. Brett Savage who has worked and consulted for a number of companies, including ConocoPhillips, IBM and Dell. Human resources managers, general managers and those involved in organizational development and finance are encouraged to attend.

When: Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Time: 8 a.m. - 12 p.m.
Where: Calgary TELUS Convention Centre (Macleod Hall C) - 120 9 AVE SE

Tickets are $80 (plus applicable service charges)

Register online

2010 CALGARY CARBON FINANCE CONFERENCE
October 20-21, 2010

Carbon emissions are not just the concern of environmental, health and safety staff; they are an important matter for senior management, equity analysts, project financiers, insurers, new financial players, and mainstream institutional investors. This conference explored the financial implications of a low carbon economy and provided an opportunity for a meaningful discussion between industry, government and the financial sector.

2011 ECONOMIC OUTLOOK
Thursday, September 23, 2010

Calgary Economic Development and TD Bank Financial Group presented the annual Economic Outlook event featuring Craig Alexander, Senior Vice President and Chief Economist for TD Bank Financial Group and Mario Lefebvre, Director for the Centre for Municipal Studies at the Conference Board of Canada. Calgarians were the first in Canada to hear Craig Alexander present TD Economics' 2011 Alberta forecast - Coping with Economic Uncertainty and Financial Volatility: An Outlook for 2011 and Mario Lefebvre present the Conference Board of Canada's 2011 Economic Outlook for Calgary.

To watch the presentations please visit: www.calgaryeconomicdevelopment.com

BUSINESS IN MEXICO ý TAKING THE NEXT STEP
Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Speakers, with personal experience doing business in Mexico, shared their knowledge and experience and addressed the key challenges and opportunities Canadian firms face when doing business in Mexico.

BUSINESS IN INDIA ý TAKING THE NEXT STEP
Monday, August 9, 2010

This half-day seminar addressed the key challenges and opportunities Canadian firms face with growing their business in India.