A new study shows Calgary is still in the driver’s seat as the country’s leading economic performer, but must better co-ordinate its industry clusters to work together in building global competitiveness.

The report was prepared by San Francisco-based ICF Consulting and released last week at the launch of the C·Prosperity economic development initiative spearheaded by city marketing agency Promoting Calgary Inc.

“We now have a baseline for monitoring the region’s future economic performance and a plan in place to position the Calgary region for the future,” said Calgary Inc. president and CEO Georgine Ulmer.

Industry clusters, a term used to describe concentrations of similar companies with related products and services that are exported outside the region, are seen as a critical link in developing and sustaining a region’s economic robustness.

Georgine Ulmer

The study notes that Calgary’s industry sectors have been fuelled by its well-established oil and gas cluster, which employs more than 50,000 people.

Other clusters include:

* Wireless and Telecommunications (employing 12,000);

* Information Technology (20,000, mostly in software and system design);

* Transportation, Warehousing and Logistics (47,800);

* Tourism, Arts and Entertainment (21,000);

* Geomatics (an emerging cluster that develops technology to track and display data, including global positioning systems and remote sensing);

* Agriculture and Health Biotechnology (a seed cluster, defined as a group of businesses that has yet to reach a critical mass in the region);

* Wellness (a potential cluster which could include telemedicine, bio-mechanical products, vitality and resort care).

The report also indicates that the average personal income in Calgary is eight per cent higher than in Ottawa, which ranks second, and that the Calgary region has low rates of violent crime and poverty.

Stanford Research Institute’s ICF Consulting has been contracted by Promoting Calgary Inc. at a cost of $800,000 to research and produce the study and organize strategy development for the C·Prosperity initiative, which involves 13 municipalities in the region including Airdrie, Strathmore, Black Diamond and Turner Valley.