Project Investment:

• Island Coastal Economic Trust: $15,000
• Applicant Equity: $15,000
• Total Budget: $30,000

Project Highlight:

The eight participating communities have been working on the regional technology attraction initiative since 2018.

Regular discussions at the Vancouver Island Coast Economic Development Association (VICEDA) meetings, over the past three years, have led to a tech attraction initiative to capitalize on interest in the region’s growing tech industry. The vision is to develop a corridor of small and mid-sized communities, north of the Malahat, offering investors a wide range of tech investment opportunities, quality-of-life amenities, tech-related infrastructure, and support for investment-ready communities.

After completing a Regional Technology Attraction strategy, the VICEDA Regional Tech Attraction Group had the steps needed to help promote the Vancouver Island region to tech companies. Following one of the strategy recommendations, the Group created and launched a new website https://techisland.io in 2020. The platform will tell the story of Vancouver Island, its investment advantages, profiles of participating communities, and available resources.

The next phase is to build on the region’s online presence by creating additional assets for the regional website, identifying target markets, and promoting techisland.io as an area for tech-related investment. This will include the creation of videos; local narrative content; and the development of a communication plan and campaign that showcase the participating member communities.