Calgary. Calgary

Calgary Economic Development works to position Calgary — branded as the Blue Sky City — for long-term economic success, supporting businesses at every stage of growth. Its mandate spans real estate, talent, and global trade, treating company scale-up and career opportunity as connected goals within a city it describes as having a diversified economy and a growing innovation ecosystem.

On real estate, the organization provides site selection support, data and insights, and connections to local brokers, along with help navigating permits and licenses. For talent, it offers data and insights alongside immigration navigation and connections to Calgary's talent pool through the innovation ecosystem and post-secondary institutions. On global trade, it delivers export assistance, including trade missions, export-focused learning opportunities, and market access support for companies looking beyond Calgary.

Much of this work plays out against the backdrop of Calgary's fintech sector, home to more than 150 fintech startups spanning paytech, blockchain, proptech, crypto, challenger banks, wealthtech, insurtech, regtech, and crowdfunding, supported by 28 co-working spaces and 45 incubators and accelerators. The city has also recorded a series of financial-services firsts: the first Canadian deployment of biometric banking, the first real-time international blockchain payment, the first integration of a robot into financial services customer support in Canada, the first blockchain-based oil and gas royalty transactions processed via the Energy Block Exchange, and the first Canadian city to launch its own digital currency. These milestones sit alongside a financial sector that spans retail and corporate banking as well as fintech, forming part of the case Calgary Economic Development makes to companies weighing where to grow.