Two years after the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, the Metro Vancouver Commerce (MVC) 2010 Business Program is reporting continued success. PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) was commissioned to produce a report that provides an update on last February’s one-year-out published figures. The latest report now pegs direct foreign investment resulting from the MVC Program at $194M, generating $350M in economic impact and benefits, and $179M in GDP growth.  The Program will result in nearly 3,000 new jobs throughout Metro Vancouver.

These statistics build on the $300M in economic impact and benefits and the 2,500 jobs reported in 2011, one year after The Games took place, demonstrating that the Metro Vancouver Commerce 2010 Business Program successfully leveraged the economic opportunity of the 2010 Olympics.

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A new report released today shows that the Metro Vancouver Commerce 2010 Olympic Business Program was a huge success in strengthening the region’s local economy, bringing a total of $306 million in new investment and creating 2,558 new jobs.

Nine Metro Vancouver municipalities, including Olympic host city Vancouver, partnered with the Government of Canada on Metro Vancouver Commerce, an innovative Olympic business program that saw 64 international companies come to Vancouver in February 2010 to land agreements for new jobs and investment in the region.

“Our priority going into the Olympics was ensuring we secured long-term benefits for our City, and it’s clear that our Olympic business program did just that,” said Mayor Gregor Robertson.

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Mayor Gregor Robertson announced today that he will be leading a major business mission to China this month, with the goal of attracting new jobs and investment to Vancouver.

“This business mission to China will deliver real results for Vancouver – we’ve spent months preparing and we are confident we can secure a number of business deals that will directly benefit our region,” said Mayor Robertson. “We’ll be capitalizing on our momentum from the 2010 Winter Games by highlighting some of our top green businesses from Vancouver. China has set aggressive goals to promote low-carbon economic development and there is a huge opportunity for us to foster closer connections between Vancouver’s leading technology companies and the emerging green economy in China.”

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This weekend marks the halfway point since the 2008 civic election, and City Hall is focussed on building on the successes of the 2010 Winter Games, says Mayor Gregor Robertson.

“Our city hosted an incredible Olympics and Paralympics, and the result is a growing sense of pride and ambition in Vancouver,” said Mayor Robertson. “We’ve emerged as a player on the world stage following the huge success of the Games, and our citizens deserve full credit for being gracious and energetic hosts.

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A Silicon Valley company and incubator that has helped hundreds of successful information technology and life science companies will open its first Canadian office in Vancouver as part of a memorandum of understanding with the City of Vancouver and the Vancouver Economic Development Commission (VEDC). Mayor Gregor Robertson, VEDC Chair Maureen Kirkbride, and Plug and Play Tech Center Chief Executive Officer Saeed Amidi signed the MOU at a ceremony today.

Plug and Play, a Silicon Valley startup accelerator brings together investment professionals with entrepreneurial experience to build profitable, global enterprises from the ground up. Plug and Play’s founders have helped a number of well-known firms, including Pay Pal. Since Plug and Play began in 2006, its tenants have collectively raised more than $700 million in funding.

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Mayor Robertson announced several new investments in Vancouver today as part of the 60-day update of the Metro Vancouver Commerce program, which targeted international businesses during the Olympics.

“Our work to use the Games to leverage investment in our economy is delivering results for Vancouver,” said the Mayor. “We used the exposure of the Olympics to brand our City as the Green Capital – a place where high-growth businesses in the green economy should be investing. It’s been only eight weeks and already new companies are opening in Vancouver.”

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